The Tyrant's Pride
by ScherzoVivace
Summary: Atobe's one-sided rivalry is with none other than the only commoner in his school. The King can get everything he wants. But for Tezuka, she's all he could ask for. As Aesop once said, "Any excuse will serve a tyrant." AtobeXOCXTezuka
1. The Tyrant

The Tyrant's Pride

Normal

_Non-speech, thoughts, text_

"There's a commoner scum in Hyotei."

"Yeah, she's getting picked on all the time but she's been attending the school every day."

"He's been trying to weave out what doesn't belong here but she's stubborn."

"Although she's not on the same social standing as the other students in our school, she excels in all areas. She is a model student and we are grateful to have such lovely juvenile."

"Aahn~? Her? She's so pathetic she makes me want to give her a reason to make her hate herself. Me? This Ore-sama has all the rights, because I'm the King, after all."

* * *

"There are opposites everywhere: the cold and the hot, the turbulent and the calm, the hard and the soft, and many more that comprise the entirety that surrounds us.

We can categorize everything, even on the smallest scale, into either one or another after funneling down to its most fundamental states. Its fundamental, polarized integrity is the identity that defines the very own existence, the proof—and is the basic building blocks of our universe.

This particular phenomenon also transcends upon people. There are those who are good and those who are evil. Those who are active and those who are passive. Those who find values in tangible things and those who don't.

According to the Chinese philosophy, yin and yang, the light and the dark—the two polar opposites coexist in harmony and are interdependent, giving each other meaning and existence through an intrinsic, ubiquitous bond.

That is why—

An 'S' end to your 'N' self—is a must in your life."

"A great passage reflection, absolutely beautiful. And also a very clever play of phonetics in your last sentence. S to an "N" of the "end" and "N" to an "S" of the self. Stunning work. Class, a round of applause for Ms. Haraue." The teacher in her mid-40s said with delight in her voice. "You may go back to your seat, Ms. Haraue."

A round of applause rang out in the classroom as the girl walked through a row of desks. As she passed by a certain area she heard a rather amused smirk of a male voice. She merely ignored it and sat back down.

Just as the girl was quietly organizing her belongings in the desk, the school bell rang, signaling an end to another school day.

"Oi, Haraue."

She recognized her name in the sentence but didn't bother to look up at the figure that had supposedly called her, standing just a few inches away and towering over her. The figure patiently waited for the girl to zip up her bag and finally give an attention.

In front of her was a tall and handsome boy with dark lavender-colored hair that parted down the middle of his head. The boy had a mole right underneath his right eye which seemingly, with the other pair, condescendingly and amusingly looked down on the girl who merely looked up in an uninterested demeanor.

"Beautifully written essay, Haraue. That Aoyama-sensei really loves showering you with sugar-coated compliments. Surely you don't bribe teachers to do that since, well... since you simply _can't._" He said with intended sarcasm, still smirking.

"_Go fuck yourself you narcissistic asshole." _

Instead of directly letting out what she was thinking, she merely flashed a smile at him, standing up slowly. "Why thank you Atobe. Thanks for gracing your way to tell me that she isn't the only one that knows how to shower me with sugar-coated compliments. I certainly didn't bribe you this time around." She retorted, nuancing that he was the one who also complimented her.

There was a slight twitch in his lips and eyebrows that showed distress, but he soon composed himself and flashed a yet another belittling smile.

Before even giving him a chance to open his mouth she brushed past him. She had better things to do in her life than get caught in a pointless squabble for having the wittiest mouth.

This was Hyotei High School—a school known for having all sorts of well-off kids who were born with golden spoons in their pompous little mouths and had everything in life simply handed to them—or at least that was the definition Haraue Miho had always held in her mind. But she was one of the rare exceptions that didn't fit in.

"Mihooo~!"

She heard a familiar voice calling out to her as she was walking out of the school. One of the very few down-to-earth people in Hyotei who Miho had befriended, Aoki Hana, came running over to her.

"Hi Hana."

"Hey I heard that Atobe-sama tried to pick on you again!" She whispered, glancing around the perimeter a bit.

"Not really. He knows how to give me sugar-coated compliments." She smirked, thinking back to a few minutes ago when she did a pretty good job in giving him a witty come-back.

"Did you show him up?" Her friend smirked along, getting a pretty good grasp of what it would have been like.

"Pretty much." She replied. They then continued walking out of the school gate.

"I wonder why he picks on you so much." Hana frowned a bit and wondered. "I've always wondered but you're the only one getting picked on by him."

"It's more like I'm the only one getting picked on by about half of the student body." Miho corrected—and held up her Hyotei school bag, covering her face, and protecting Hana with her other free arm. A car whizzed by, and crackle noises rang out upon impact. Hana squeaked and Miho merely sighed. After looking around and saw nothing of threat, Miho brought her bag down and let go of Hana.

She looked at the bag—transparent and yellow goo with some white shells trickled down from her bag.

"Again?" Hana frowned as Miho took off a protective vinyl layer that she had put on just in case since this kind of thing happened to her almost every day.

Miho calmly took off the layer and shoved it into the trashcan along the way. She then held up her bag and smiled faintly after checking the cleanliness.

"We should really tell someone about this…! They'll keep on bullying you more and more at this rate." Her friend said out of concern.

"As Aesop once said, "any excuse will serve a tyrant." Asking the school for help alone won't stop them, so might as well leave them be. Plus the school feeds off of those tyrants."

"But still…"

"I just have to hang on for another half a year and I'll be fine." She said, smiling casually. "And as for you, are you sure you can hang around me like this? You'll end up like me too."

"Hehe~ Don't worry don't worry! You know people can't do things to me so easily." She said, laughing.

"That's true." Miho smirked. Hana was one of the richest, most powerful students in Hyotei due to her family background. Miho was always skeptical as to why she, of all people, tried to get along with someone like herself. Keeping the skepticism aside, Miho admitted that she appreciated Hana's frequent company in an establishment full of people eager to gnash out their fangs at her.

"Well then, I'll see you tomorrow. Have fun at work!" Her friend waved and dashed off towards a black limousine parked on the street a few feet away from the school gate. Miho waved back and continued walking down her path.

Miho walked for a few minutes, took the bus, and stopped in front of a bookstore. She walked in and set her bag down on a cabinet behind the counter.

"Good afternoon, tenchou!" Miho greeted after noticing an old man in his late 60's coming out of the door at the back.

"Oh, Miho. Good afternoon. How was school today?" The man smiled benevolently and asked.

"It was pretty good. Reading the book yesterday definitely helped me write a good essay for my homework. The teacher complimented me." She said, laughing. She of course left out the part where a certain nuisance provoked her.

"It's really nice to see you doing well in Hyotei. It''s not very common to see people from around here go to a school that prestigious." He said, smiling.

"Hehe, I'm just barely getting used to it still, but thank you, tenchou." Miho smugly scratched her head.

Miho worked part time four days a week, Fridays through Mondays, in a small but frequent bookstore in a busy part of Tokyo; while working she could study as well as read books when there weren't too many customers. It then became six o'clock; the store was the busiest after lunchtime and the traffic died out little by little Miho was able to relax a bit and start reading. Being too indulged in the book, she didn't realize that someone was standing in front of the counter.

"Excuse me—"

"…"

"Excuse me?"

"Huh?" She shot her head up and found a handsome, tall guy with hazel-brown hair and glasses standing in front of the counter, staring at her intently. "Ah, I'm sorry! How can I help you?"

She put her book face-down without closing the book so she could come back to it.

'_Macbeth… a rather depressing book for a teenage girl.' _The guy thought after reading the cover. "I was wondering if you had Pride and Prejudice in stock."

"Hm, is it not in the shelves?" Miho went around the counter to check out the shelves.

'_Huh, Hyotei Gakuen…' _He recognized the uniform the girl was wearing. He found it rather odd to find a girl from a school of rich kids working at such a small store.

He followed her to the isle where the book was supposed to be. She looked around—

"It looks like we haven't re-stocked it. I'll check the back for a copy, so please wait a moment." She said and hurried off to the back. After a bit she came back with more copies in her hand. The boy met her at the counter and she scanned the copy.

"And would this be all for you today?"

"Yes."

She then took out a paper wrapping and started wrapping the book.

"Is this your first time reading this book?" She asked, carefully wrapping the book.

"Actually, no. I read it a couple times; I just thought I'd get my own copy." He replied.

"That's good. This one's a pretty great novel, although I only read it once because I found it a bit delusional." She laughed, recalling Mr. Darcy of the book and comparing him to the other similar "nobles" of Hyotei and finding everything but good things common: skyrocketing pride, dramatic demeanor, bossy language, and many more she couldn't quite count with her five fingers.

She was done with the first layer of wrapping.

"Delusional?" He questioned. Usually people's opinion on the novel was nothing of the sort, especially not girls, who were in love with Mr. Darcy.

"I personally think it's delusional. A British woman, in the 1800s, writing about a romance between a high-class aristocrat and a near-commoner gentry? She was 21 when she wrote this. Even though she projected her opinions regarding the upper social class on Darcy, making him such an annoying, rude character, she still chose to have Elizabeth fall for him."

"That's certainly a new way to look at it." He said, thinking over about what she said.

"Ah, I'm sorry if I ruined your favorite book." She apologized after seeing the boy put on a serious look.

"No, I'm rather intrigued. It's a fresh perspective. And that's a rather somber book you're reading." He eyed the book resting on the counter, not too far away from them.

"Oh, Macbeth?" She glanced at the book she was reading. "Yeah, it is pretty depressing."

"The last and shortest tragedy Shakespeare ever wrote."

She was done wrapping the book, taping it up and stamping it with the store's logo stamp.

"You know your classics. It's nice to know that there are still people who appreciate good books." She laughed as she handed the paper-wrapped book to him.

"I feel the same."

"Thank you. Please visit again." She said, being handed the money and returning a receipt in return.

"Thank you." He said as well and exited the store. He was reflecting on what the girl had just told him. _'Ah, now that I notice…' _

As he passed by, he glanced into the store through the glass windows, and found the girl glued back to the book she was previously reading.

'_A girl from Hyotei saying Jane Austen was delusional… hm. Maybe she's not one of the Atobe's kinds."_

He stopped a bit and observed her a bit more carefully. Had he not talked to her and got a sense of her opinions and values, he would have thought that she was one of the rich, well-off kids from Hyotei. He recalled their exchange of dialogue a couple seconds ago; she had soft, slender fingers, long eyelashes, and long black hair tied up in an elegant ponytail. The way she carried herself while wrapping the book looked graceful.

Now he was slightly disappointed, thinking that he should've made an eye contact with her for a bit longer; he couldn't quite recall what color her eyes were. As he was thinking about the girl while observing her side on the other side of the show window, the girl looked up from her book and turned to the window as well.

Their eyes met for a short but long three seconds until the he snapped out as the girl smiled and waved at him. He seemed a bit surprised, feeling guilty from being caught staring at her, but nonetheless nodded in acknowledgement, and hurried on his way.

* * *

"Keigo-sama. How was your day at school today?" An old man dressed nicely in a butler suit greeted as he was handed over a bag and a jacket from a young boy walking in through a giant two-door entrance held open by two maids.

"There's a… vermin—still going around." He replied as he put on a rather irritated smile, pausing a bit in between his sentence to carefully dissect his thoughts to settle on an appropriate vocabulary.

"Vermin?" The butler raised his eyebrows, rather surprised by a sudden animosity coming out of his young master's mouth. "Keigo-sama, you seem to be rather… agitated recently. I suggest you counsel the school to address anything that is troubling you and your last year in high school."

"Thanks for the concern, Michael, but I'll take care of it soon enough."

* * *

2 years ago—

"Hey did you hear? We have a commoner joining this year!"

"How interesting! It's always a sight to see when they run off like little pests."

Excited chatters filled the elegant hall; in front of the hall above the stage was a huge banner that said "Hyotei Gakuen 89th Entrance Ceremony."

A girl with black hair, fair, white skin, and brown eyes sat quietly among excited students, looking at the front. On her uniform was a silver name badge that said "Haraue Miho."

Soon, they all quieted down as a certain lavender-haired boy appeared over the podium.

"It's Atobe-sama!"

"Shh, quiet!"

Without any official instructions for silence, the student body quieted down, their eyes pinned on the person that stood behind the podium.

'_Who the hell is he?_' She thought, curious as to why his presence was able to quiet down a body of 200 people in an instant.

"You all know who I am—" he began, bringing himself closer to the mic. "For those of you who don't know me because you were so unfortunate to have gone to a different middle school before to have missed this Ore-sama's amazing prowess, I'm Atobe Keigo."

'_Having "amazing prowess" on top of calling yourself in third person? Ridiculous.'_ The girl scoffed inwardly after listening to the person spew out pure nonsense. '_No, Haraue Miho. You expected this. Don't bother with it.'_

"Atobe-sama's so great, isn't he?"

Miho then heard a voice say next to her ear; she turned and found a beautiful girl with brown hair and green eyes.

"Um… yeah." She answered, not wanting to cause any trouble by getting into an argument with her peers on the first day of school.

"He's so handsome… and his voice just melts my ears!" The girl squealed and Miho just laughed smugly. "Ah! I'm Aoki Hana by the way." She held out her hand. "I'm the daughter of Aoki Corporations."

"Haraue Miho." She recognized the company name the girl just introduced along with herself—it was one of the main exporting companies that she could recall off the top of her head. Not knowing how to introduce her being the daughter of as, she merely disclosed her name and shook the girl's hand.

"Which company's daughter are you?" The girl asked much too innocently for Miho to ignore.

"I'm just a normal person." She said, not seeing a reason to hide.

"You're the commoner?" The girl gasped and said a bit too loudly for people around to hear; after she said out loud the word "commoner," everyone repeated the word in surprise and curiosity and turned to look at Miho who just sat there rigidly.

"Commoner?"

"She's the one."

People whispered among themselves and soon the attention shifted from the boy up on the podium to Miho. People that were too far to see Miho just mumbled among themselves and peeped around to hopefully get a glance at the commoner.

The boy who soon realized that no one was paying attention to him came around from the podium and looked around, seeking a source that disrupted his magnificent speech which should not have been interfered.

He then found a lot of people's head turned to a certain girl sitting towards the back.

"Atobe, apparently she's the commoner." One of the students in the front row told him. His eyes pinned on the girl like everyone else; then the girl who was looking around nervously, looked up at the stage—and their eyes met.

* * *

Miho locked the door to her tiny studio apartment, just big enough to accommodate one person. On the way to school she drank the last milk in her fridge and ate a banana. She had to walk 20 minutes and take the bus 30 minutes—a total of almost an hour to commute to school.

While she was in the bus she took out a book and read, or sometimes studied if she had a test or a quiz. She didn't have a big test or quiz coming up, so she grabbed the book she was reading recently—Macbeth—and plugged in her earphones into her ears.

She yawned—

She got up at six in the morning but slept at two in the morning. She came back home at ten the night before and she studied and finished her homework until two.

Every morning was a sight to see for Miho as she got in the vicinity of her school; Bentleys, Lincolns, Rolls Royces, Mercedes—the luxurious cars that the upper 1% of the population rode passed by the enormous school fence gate and dropped off kids.

'_I'd rather sell that car and pay for my college tuition.' _She thought, but soon brushed it off because it was absurd to be wishing for a car as nice as those.

The real sight to see was when—on days which he didn't have a morning practice for the tennis team—Atobe Keigo arrived in his fancy car and was immediately surrounded by a mob of girls that desperately sought his attention, calling out his name and screaming and whatnot.

Every time that happened Miho scoffed inwardly and walked past, raising the volume of her music.

It was about five minutes before the lunch bell;

"Ms. Haraue, could you come up to the board and solve this problem?" A male teacher in his 30s asked. Miho stood up and walked up to the front. She grabbed the chalk and started writing without stopping.

After boxing her final answer she put the chalk down.

"Alright let's see… correct, good job Ms. Haraue, you may go back to your seat. You first approach this problem by writing a differential equation…"

The teacher faced the board and began writing down things. Miho then walked back to her seats. As she passed through the isle, her leg was caught onto something, and she fell forward onto her knees. When she made contact with the ground she could hear stifles of laughter coming from around.

She could very well surmise what that "something" she tripped over was, and she could even more clearly tell that the giggles and snickers were directed toward her. Atobe, even though he tormented her the most, never actually inflicted physical damage on her. It was probably another classmate that tripped her over.

"Ms. Haraue, are you all right?" The teacher who turned around after hearing her collapsing onto the floor asked worriedly.

"I'm fine." She said and walked back to her seat, expressing not much distress.

Atobe, who was watching all along, scoffed when he noticed a red liquid flowing down from her right knee as she passed by. _'Pathetic.' _

The bell then rang and students all packed their belongings and rushed outside to enjoy their lunch break in a long, monotonous daily schedule.

Miho stood up as well after organizing her belongings and walked out of the class. Atobe, who was now surrounded by girls asking him if they could eat lunch together, noticed her walk out of the class in his peripheral vision.

"Atobe-sama~ can we eat with you?"

"I apologize, but I have student council matters to attend to," he said as he got up, "but I will join you next time."

Miho walked down the hall, ignoring the stares and whispers people gave her as they passed by. She opened the door to the infirmary and noticed that the doctor wasn't there; she just walked over to a cabinet, took out a first-aid kit, and started treating the cut on her knee.

After school she headed out to the bus station to get to work just like the other days. After about a 30 minute drive she got off the bus in the busy downtown of Tokyo.

'_It's hot.' _Miho thought immediately after she stepped off the bus. Although she tied her hair up, the heat wave in Tokyo building forest was still enough to make her feel hot. She fanned herself on the face and neck in attempt to cool herself a bit.

The same boy who bought a book a couple days ago noticed Miho as she was waiting by the crosswalk to cross the big street. _'Ah, it's her. So she takes normal city busses…' _Finding it weird that someone from Hyotei is taking public transportation, the boy observed her and inquired.

She had earphones plugged in, her fingers tapping a little to the beat of the music—

'_I wonder what she's listening to.' _

Then she started crossing with mobs of other people as the light turned green. His feet naturally followed her, as if he was being drawn in. The bookstore was located right in front of the crosswalk; she walked in, greeted her old store manager, and sat down behind the same counter.

Before he walked in, he saw a sign that said "hiring – part or full time." He opened the door and walked in.

"Welcome—oh, hello. You bought Pride and Prejudice a few days ago, right?" She noticed him and asked.

"Yes." He nodded. "I finished reading and I thought I'd find another book to read."

"I see. Let me know if you need anything." She smiled and sat back down.

The boy walked over to a random isle and pretended to look for books; he then glanced to the side to see what she was doing: reading. He didn't recognize the cover as it wasn't Macbeth that she was reading a few days ago.

'_I wonder what she's reading now?' _He wondered, being a tad bit far to read the title of the book.

She didn't budge and kept on reading; thinking that he'd get an interesting book himself, he looked around the shelves.

He grabbed Jane Eyre, a book he always thought that he should read. He walked up to the counter and she stood up, with a book still in her hand.

"Oh, you're getting this?" She looked rather surprised. She held her book up too and it was Jane Eyre as well.

"I thought I should give it a try." He said.

"It's a really good book." She said and smiled. "You have good taste in books."

She began wrapping the book with the same paper that she used a few days ago. While he waited around and watched her wrap the book, he remembered the sign that they had on their door. And he admitted that he was being impulsive, which he never have been.

"Oh, and by the way…" He spoke up. "Are you still hiring part-time positions? I was wondering if I could apply."

"We are. Tenchou~" She called and soon a door to the back opened up.

"Yes?"

"He wanted to apply for a part time job." She said.

"How very nice. Nice to meet you, I'm the store manager Hosoda Yoshimoto."

"Nice to meet you. I'm Tezuka Kunimitsu." Tezuka said and bowed politely.

"Which days can you work? I need someone to work Friday through Mondays with this girl."

"I could work Fridays and weekends." The boy answered. _'I get to work with her…'_

"That's good. Fridays we need afternoons from 4 to 9 and weekends either mornings or afternoons."

"Fridays and weekend mornings work for me."

"Alright. Are you a high schooler?"

"Yes, I'm a 3rd year." He answered.

"That's the same as this girl! You guys could get along well while working." The old man laughed and said. "Which school do you go to?"

"Seishun Gakuen."

"Ah, the school not too far away from here, I see. Now then, when can you start?"

"I could start as soon as possible."

"Then can you start training today? Let's see… 5 to 9, so 4 hours. That should be enough training. It's not too hard working here. "

"I could start today, yes."

"Great. Miho, I'll leave the training to you." The old man said and walked back into the back room.

"I'm Haraue Miho, by the way. I'm 3rd year like tenchou said." The girl smiled and held her hand out which he shook.

'_Her name was Haraue Miho…' _He repeated her name in his mind as he shook hands. "Tezuka Kunimitsu."

"You can set your bag behind the counter here." She showed him around.

She taught him how the shelves are organized, where they kept extra books, how to work the register, and all sorts of things about the shop.

"As you can see, it's usually really quiet and empty during non-rush hours, so you'll have plenty of time to study or read books."

"I see."

"There'll be a lot of people coming in starting around 6 o'clock, but don't worry it's really not that hard."

They got busy from 6 o'clock to around 8; after 8, less people came in, and the store was completely empty by the time they were about to close.

They had about 30 minutes of downtime until 9 o'clock;

Tezuka was sitting down on the chair behind the counter; Miho came over with a can of drink she got from the small fridge next to the counter and handed one to Tezuka.

"Ah, thank you."

"Mmhm. By the way, Tezuka, do you play tennis?" She asked. "I saw you holding a tennis bag the other day."

"Yes." He replied, finding himself slightly excited that she had noticed something about him.

"Do you play for Seigaku?"

"Yes, I'm the buchou."

"Oh, then you must be really good."

"I'm alright." He answered. "You go to Hyotei, right?"

"Mmhm."

"You must know Atobe Keigo."

"Ah… yeah. Everyone knows him, I guess. I don't really talk to him though." She replied, catching herself right before she could spit out all sorts of things she had in her mind regarding the arrogant "King" of Hyotei.

"I see. He's a rival of mine for tennis."

"Now that you mention, I remember him being in the tennis club or something." She said. "Never seen him play, though."

"He's very good."

She smirked. "I figured." Of course, as expected of _the_ King Atobe—he'd be elite at everything he does.

'_She seemed a bit bitter. Am I imagining?'_

* * *

A new fic, I hope you like it! Let me know what your first impression is! :D

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	2. This Too Shall Pass

I'm still getting used to writing rather intricately compared to my other fictions I have written in the past… please forgive me if there are any errors in the writing; I simply fail to catch mistakes or am just not a natural writer… I will try my best and go back time to time to fix errors!

**rrrrRANDOMmm**: Wow, it's pretty great that you know Prince of Music because that was such a long time ago and a bit unpopular if I must say so myself haha. And you are so sharp regarding Atobe! All I can say for now is that the future chapters will reveal each character's side of the story. And of course no offence taken at all because I really appreciate these kinds of deep, considerate criticism. Thank you so much, you are an awesome reader! :D

**PhoenixRage92, MischievousMarauder2u**: Thanks for the review! Here is the update :D

**k-popluver4eva**: hehe, tune in for later chapters to find out an answer to your question! Thanks for reviewing! ;)

**SoulXHunter**: My gosh that's like the biggest compliment I could ever hear from anyone *cries I absolutely sucked at writing and I was scared that it wouldn't be fun for the readers… I'm so glad that you like the story so far! I'll try my best in making it more and more interesting. Thank youuu :D

* * *

The Tyrant's Pride

Chapter 2: This Too Shall Pass

I hate the rich.

I absolutely despise them.

They are the very few fortunate aftermaths of capitalism. One person's success and his or her forming of a family is enough to start a generation of these vain, penurious creatures who, for being nothing but possessors of their hand-down riches and consumers of luxurious products targeted only for them, can influence the bottom 90% of the society.

It makes me laugh seeing them act all high and mighty as if they're different beings from the rest of us, just because they wear nice clothes, ride nice cars, possess luxury goods, and enjoy better food. They crush and stump upon the weak to ensure their places in the top tier.

While there are the top 5% who own about 70% at least—of the society's wealth—there are the bottom 20% of the social class who can barely crawl on thin ice every day, worrying about whether or not if they can support their loved ones, or sometimes even just themselves, grabbing onto a thin straw of hope in an attempt at a better future. I experienced this first-hand and I understand it better than anyone.

Atobe's car alone can guarantee my advancement into an upper-level education. The money he spent on holding a "party" for his friends could probably pay off half of the student loans of this country's bright future. The shoes he wears could probably save a homeless child. The watch he wears could probably raise a family.

They're beyond despicable.

2 years ago—

"No way…!"

"Atobe-sama's not the first!?"

"Who's Haraue Miho?"

Mumbles and chatters filled the hall; students who gathered around the school bulletin board to check the school's first assessment rankings were all in awe as they witnessed something completely out of the ordinary: a name that always followed the number 1 without failing for the last three years—was found next to the number two, right below a rather unfamiliar name. Haraue Miho had beaten Atobe Keigo.

The words spread throughout the school like a plague and even more people kept on gathering to witness the one-in-a-million-years phenomenon.

"…" Miho stood among the crowd and glanced up at the very top of the bulletin board.

Then, the crowd suddenly parted like the sea being split by Moses as a certain "King," along with a maroon-haired boy with a bowl-cut, navy-haired boy with circular glasses, and a brown-haired boy with a scar on his forehead made his way to the bulletin board. He stood in the front, looked up—

"AHAHAH! Someone beat Atobe to 1st place!" The maroon-haired boy cracked out laughing, pointing his finger at his friend and mocking him.

"Who's Haraue Miho? Was there someone like that in middle school last year?" The boy with a scar on his forehead said.

"It's the "commoner" that everyone was talking about during Atobe's speech." The boy in glasses said.

Atobe glanced around and landed his gaze on a certain girl who was making her way out of the crowd.

"You. Wait." He said; the crowd's gaze followed Atobe's, and found a black-haired girl walking away rather indifferently.

"Haraue Miho." He called once again.

Miho sighed, and turned around. The crowd as now parted so that Atobe and Miho didn't have anything in between them except a growing tension.

"What." She answered.

"That's her? She's cuuute!" The maroon-haired boy exclaimed, snickering.

"…" He merely stared at her with his arrogant, condescending look. She scoffed lightly, and realizing that he wasn't going to say anything in particular, just turned away and started walking, not wanting to miss her bus to get to work.

"Where do you think you're going?"

"I think I'm going to go back home, thanks for asking." She said, turning around.

"I'm not done with you."

"Did you start anything?" She said indifferently and started walking away, disappearing over the corner. Atobe's friends stifled their laughter at the witty come-back of the girl. Atobe stood there in shock as if he was struck by something; this girl—this insignificant girl, who took his glory, was completely mocking him and dismissing his prowess.

His lips and eyebrows twitched in distress and annoyance as he clenched his fists. He then composed himself and smirked, glaring at the corner the girl disappeared to.

'_You just got lucky. Let's see if you can pull off another miracle like this again.'_

3 months later—

"The score ranking is up!"

Everyone crowded around the bulletin board during lunch and started mumbling in awe again. Atobe came with his friends again, saw the score—

"AHAHAH! You got burned the second time!" His friend laughed out louder than ever.

"That Haraue girl sure is something, isn't she."

Atobe looked around, in hope to find the girl among the crowd like last time.

"What class is she in. I want to have a word with her." Atobe asked.

"She's in class 1-C!" Someone shouted out. Atobe then stormed over with mobs of people following him in hope to witness some interesting turnout of event.

Atobe opened the door to class 1-C—and found the same black-haired girl sitting quietly, reading a book while listening to music.

She didn't bother to turn and look after witnessing something coming through the door in her peripheral vision.

"Oi." He called. Miho calmly closed the book and unplugged the earphones.

"Yeah?"

"How did you do it?" He asked. He was irritated—he studied harder to make sure he compensated for what happened last time.

"Do what?"

"How were you able to beat me again?" He raised his voice a bit, finding the girl's attitude a bit irritating.

"Oh, did I get first place?" She asked. "I didn't know the results came out, thanks for letting me know."

"…How did you do it?"

"I studied. How, you ask? Well, how should I put it—I just took it better than you, that's all, like how you took it better than other 174 students in the class." She said without even a slightest hint of distress. She was pretty irritated by how he made such a big deal out of it though; her first impression of Atobe on top of her normative implications on the rich didn't sum up to the most pleasant experience. But she said "better" because she _really did mean_ "better." She was better at test-taking because she tried that much harder and was that much smarter.

Atobe smirked. This commoner spat out some pretty amusing things since the last time they met. What if he poked fun at her? Embarrassed her and stripped her pride and ego down to the bottom?

"That's not what I'm asking. Who did you bribe?" He asked. "Ah, wait… I forgot. You probably can't afford to bribe."

He smirked at her after finishing his sentence, observing her face to see a sign of change, to irritation, anger, embarrassment, sorrow—

"You're right, I can't afford to bribe." She said, staring at his eyes directly. "But in the end, I'm the one that got first place even without the bribe."

At her remark everyone started mumbling.

"Oof, Atobe's gonna need to ice that reeeeaaaal nice." The maroon-haired boy cooed while the brown-haired boy with a scar stifled his laughter.

That's when it all started.

The thin line between crowd wisdom and herd mentality is often crossed. No, let me scratch that. It's _always_ crossed. The individuals of a group does not have to be of ill will; the nature of a collective group is what makes them so vulnerable to becoming the victims of none other than the group itself.

As are the birds that migrate and the fish that swarm up the stream, people are, on the most basic level, animals. And it seems that the herd mentality that can be seen in packs of wolves, herds of sheep, flocks of birds—applies even to humans who have complex, systematized society; the game of "follow the leader" is by no means an instinct, an intrinsic feature in all creatures who live under a social structure.

Once the leader starts a movement, the members trace the steps one after another—just like how Atobe started all of it.

No member of a collective group wishes to become the deviant, a defiant, and an _outcast_—and thus joins in with blinded trust that covers up tacit reluctance, which, soon sheds its horrendous skin and becomes a supporter of crowd wisdom, a belief that the actions and values of a collective group are always correct.

As a victim of being an outcast in the biggest herd, I have no choice but to remain silent and wait for the time to pass. Originated from the Persian Sufi poets and quoted by King Solomon, the phrase "this too shall pass" has always been my restraint and collar. This phrase makes a happy man sad and a sad man happy. Although not exactly sad, I definitely lean more towards the latter than former.

And that's why this in front of me—a nasty, childish act engendered by nothing but baseless conjectures filling up the entire space of the chalkboard—was nothing but a mere children's play.

Mumbles and whispers filled the classroom. My ears managed to pick up some of the words—a poor commoner—came up the most often.

'_Well it is true. If anything, I'm not dirt-poor since I have some income from my part-time.' _

What came up just as often was this: smart, bookworm, creep, scholarship, and many more that mostly emphasized my superiority in academics compared to them.

'_If you're that jealous, why don't you just try harder? Lazy scumbags blaming on others for what they can't do right. Heh.' _

And so again today, just like every day—I get ready to become the speediest gazelle in a Serengeti of ravenous lions. It's a survival game.

* * *

"Hi Tezuka!" She greeted as she stepped into the bookstore afterschool and found her coworker already getting ready to work.

"Hello Haraue." He greeted.

About three weeks passed since Tezuka started working at the bookstore with Miho. The two were able to get along pretty well, both finding profound interest in classic literature, holding thoughtful discussion regarding things they had in common. They found out many things about each other.

Tezuka was a captain in his school's tennis club. From what she could guess, he was very skilled in tennis since he led his middle school team to nationals and high school team to nationals as well. He was extremely smart, being a student council president and never failing to place in the top 3 in his school. He liked hiking, camping and fishing.

Miho was also extremely smart; although not of Atobe's kinds, she was a full-ride scholarship student to Hyotei Gakuen. She also worked at the bookstore ever since she was in middle school. She had written several essays of various subjects and had won numerous competitions.

Tezuka had to admit—first it started off as a pure interest, perhaps an attraction to someone similar to him; but before he realized he was stealing glances and staring at her all the time. Then the more and more he got to spend time with her, his tendency to think about her even outside of the bookstore increased.

He'd wonder what class she'd be in as he's writing down notes in class. He'd wonder what she'd be eating for lunch when he was eating his lunch. He'd find a book at a library and wonder if she'd read that as well. He'd walk down downtown, find clothing in a shop display which fit his taste, and wonder what it'd look like if she wore it. When it became Tuesday, he couldn't help but wait for Friday when he'd get to meet her again.

The first week, second, then third… each week the symptoms grew stronger. But never having been in such turbulent, unsettling emotional state in his life, he couldn't quite settle on what it was he had for Miho. He thought that he should give more time until he's sure of it.

As Miho went around the counter to put her bag down, Tezuka's eyes immediately pinned on her hand. "Did you hurt yourself again?" He asked worriedly.

"Ah this?" She held up her right hand. "Yeah, I cut it a bit." She laughed it off, scratching her head smugly.

"_Ow." Miho flinched a bit and retracted her hand away from the chair immediately. There was a blade taped up in a place she wouldn't be able to notice. Red hot liquid started oozing down her hand and the chair._

"_Oh no, did that hurt?" _

_She heard sarcastic remarks of girls in her class, laughing and snickering a few feet away from her. _

"You have to be careful; girls should watch out for scars. Did you sterilize it?" He asked after noticing how sloppily the bandage wrapped around her dominant hand.

"Not really. It's not too bad, don't worry."

"There's no way I won't worry after seeing the bandage this sloppily done." Tezuka sighed. "Let me see it."

"No, it's fine."

"You have to properly treat it. Now sit down and let me see it." He said rather strictly.

"Okay, okay." She said in defeat and started undoing the bandages.

He took out a first-aid kit from his tennis bag and set it on the counter.

"You carry that around?"

"Yes. You can injure yourself easily playing tennis." He answered. After taking out a sterilizing agent, a cotton swab, an ointment, and a fresh new roll of bandage, he dragged his chair in front of Miho and sat down. "Let me see it."

She held out her hand and Tezuka took it, examining it closely. He frowned as he examined her cut—it ran from the bottom left side of her palm all the way to her index finger.

"How did you cut it this badly?" He asked skeptically, frowning as if it was _he _who was the one in pain.

"I was being a bit too sloppy." She grinned smugly and said. Tezuka just sighed. The last thing he wanted to see was Miho in any kind of pain. He began sterilizing the wound. He glanced a bit at her face and found her frowning from pain.

"Don't worry, it'll be over soon."

He was then thinking; many times, although he never spoke up, he found many places in her body in bruises and bandages—knees, elbows, sometimes she even limped. And it all happened most often on Mondays and Fridays—the days which she had school.

He put the cotton swab down and started putting on ointment. He was observing her hand while he put it on—slender fingers of adequate length, squishy, white palm, an overall attractive hand, or at least he thought. Compared to his large, hardened and rough hands from years of tennis playing, her hands were soft and small. He now wished he could hold it properly with hers clenching onto his also.

After he finished putting on the ointment he grabbed the bandage and started wrapping it around her hand with utmost care.

"Wow, you're really good at this." Miho said, impressed by how neatly he was able to wrap it.

"I do run into these things a lot." He replied. Then he hesitated, wondering if he should ask her about all the incidents he's been seeing for the past three weeks.

He cut off the bandage and taped it.

"There. Make sure you re-wrap the bandage every day."

"Thanks, Tezuka, I really appreciate it. It means a lot." She smiled. He felt his cheeks grow warm.

"No problem."

Then a foreigner customer came in. Losing his chance to ask, Tezuka decided to ask the next time he had a chance.

"Umm excuse me, could you tell me where these books are?" The foreigner asked in broken Japanese.

"Yes of course." Miho went around the counter and went off to the back shelves to help the customer.

"A lovely girl, isn't she?" The store manager came out of nowhere and said as he watched Miho helped the customer find the books he needed, even making a conversation in almost fluent English. "Smart and kind."

"…Yes." Tezuka answered.

"This bookstore's a very special place for her." He said. "I'm glad that you two are getting along; she needs more people like you in her life, she deserves it more than anyone."

"Is that so…" Tezuka trailed off, slightly confused by what the store manager said.

* * *

A couple weeks passed and it was a midterm week for the high schoolers. Miho, like the usual, studied and fully prepared herself for the midterms.

After the midterms were graded, they were handed back to the students by the teacher.

"First in class, Haraue Miho. Perfect score again, Ms. Haraue. Great work." The teacher said as she called her name. Miho went up to retrieve her test and sat back down.

"And second is Atobe Keigo. 98, very good work." Atobe went up to get his test. The teacher praised him but that was none of his concern. He was defeated by a certain girl. _Again._

After all the tests were done being handed out the lunch bell rang. Frustrated about the results again, Atobe walked out of the class and headed to the private club room for the tennis club regulars.

He walked in and found his friends gathered already. He sat down on the sofa and roughly undid his tie around his neck.

"Seems like someone's not in a great mood." A boy with glasses, Oshitari, said after examining the rather distressed face of Atobe. "Let me guess. You're probably mad about the midterm results. You know, Haraue Miho."

"Shut up, Oshitari."

"Kuhuhu, she beat you again? Come on, Atobe. You gotta step up your game." Mukahi, the maroon haired boy, teased Atobe while snickering.

"Che. She's going to get it one day… just watch."

"Atobe, why do you even bother her so much anyways? Do you like her or something?" Mukahi asked.

"Ore-sama? _Like_ _her_? Don't be ridiculous." Atobe scoffed and brushed off the idea. "It irritates me to see a commoner like her act so high and mighty before me all the time."

"Well it is true that she does, but what about it?" Ootori, a tall boy with silver, curly hair asked. "She's never done anything to you."

"Heh. Ootori, you're missing the point here. This is all because…" Atobe smirked. They all stared at him in anticipation, waiting for him to finish his sentence. They were always curious why Atobe, who never really bothered with anything that wouldn't do him a particular good and always thought he was too superior to meddle with others' business, would focus so much of his attention on a mere "commoner" girl. They all knew he wouldn't go on about messing around with her that much just because she performed better than him in tests. And he dismissed the idea of taking a romantic interest in her, so there had to be a good reason why.

"Because…?" The boy with a scar on his forehead, Shishido, asked.

Atobe didn't answer; he jsut abruptly stood up. He then left the room, leaving his friends hanging.

"My-pace as always. What a troublesome guy." Mukahi sighed and shrugged his shoulders.

Atobe indulged in a thought as he walked along the school back garden, which was usually empty during lunch break.

He reflected back on the last two and a half years in high school, after the entrance ceremony when he first encountered Miho. At first, she was none of his concern; he thought she was smart, being a commoner and a full-scholarship recipient for all three years. That was all it was. Sure, she was the reason that his first speech ever in his high school days was interrupted, but he wasn't so narrow-minded to hold grudges against her for that kind of petty reason.

But it all changed after the first school ranking was announced. He was shocked, disappointed, and irritated that the "commoner" had taken his glory. He had to admit, it was his first time being the "runner-up." He was the King. He was the one everyone admired—the one everyone gave their full attention to, and the one that was able to influence people. But he admitted, as irritated as he was, he was impressed. So he called out to her.

Their first exchange of conversation was—for a lack of better words—a shock. He even thought he'd befriend this commoner girl that was great enough to perform better than the King for once. He didn't hate people with skills. And plus, who wouldn't want him as a friend, especially girls? Girls stood in line to talk to him, to witness the once-in-a-lifetime miracle named Atobe Keigo. But he was treated trivially. He was being belittled. He was being unacknowledged. His position as a King was being challenged.

So he tried harder to take his glory back and show everyone, including that girl, that he was the one who will always remain number one, the champion, and the King. But he was defeated again; on top of that, the girl provoked him with the most indifferent face, saying that she was simply "better than him." She didn't even care that the results had come out.

She said she took the test better than him, like he took it better than the rest others below him. But that was a completely different story. His being above all of them was a given fact. That would mean that her being above him was like how he was above the others. But that's not how it worked for the last 18 years of his life. No one should dare just simply "step above" the King."

Out of temporary spite, he insulted her and spat out nasty words that could've—no, should've—done some emotional damage to her. But she just retorted with her witty little mouth, bolstering the fact once more that he was the one that was below her level and she didn't need special aid to be better than him. A commoner was holding up her pride in front of a King.

Even still, two and a half years later, he was never able beat her, not even once, in getting his throne back. She became his biggest rival for every tests and quizzes but she just acted like she was the only one in the school. She never regarded anyone as her competitor.

What bothered and irritated him the most was her demeanor, her attitude—her actions and words had absolutely no sentiment towards him. To simply put, she _didn't care. _Her expression was always the same when he saw her. Indifference. Apathy. Disinterest. Sometimes she put on a condescending look after making a comeback. She never laughed, got angry, or showed even a hint of distress.

The lack of attention definitely irritated him, even when she was insulted. That's when his curiosity started growing. Without realizing he talked rudely to her and tormented her just to see her be hurt, troubled, and dejected. He wanted to crumple her pride and tear it to pieces.

Why? Maybe his inner self thought that seeing her in such states would give him the reassurance that he held the absolute power and that no matter what, he always will remain a King.

The more it continued, the less she cared. All she did was talk back to him with the witty little mouth of hers.

He made a resolve: before they graduate high school, she will acknowledge his superiority, shed tears, and kneel before him, Atobe Keigo, the King.

He was strolling through the garden until he saw her—the source of his distress—sitting on the bench and eating her lunch while reading a book.

"MIHOOOO!" Soon a blonde girl ran over to her and hugged her from behind.

"You scared me, Hana!" Miho said with a surprised look, clenching onto her chest.

"Hehe, sorry! I just wanted to share this with you!" The girl held out her lunchbox and exclaimed, unwrapping the cloth that covered it. "You see, I tried making it but I wasn't sure if it tasted good."

After unpacking the lunchbox Miho took a bite out of the food.

"This is really good!" She exclaimed, her eyes widening. "Hana you'd make a fine wife."

At that they cracked up laughing. Atobe, who was watching this from afar, felt rather intrigued and _thrilled. _His lips curled up.

'_Yes, maybe… just maybe if I…'_

It was after school; Atobe, instead of directly heading to the tennis club, waited for someone at the back of the school.

"Um… did you call for me, Atobe-kun?" A voice called out.

"Aoki Hana." He called her. "Yes, I called you here."

She blushed, twiddling her fingers. "Wh-What did you want to talk about?"

"…Heh."

* * *

It was during P.E., when Miho's class was playing dodgeball. Truth be told, Miho was athletic, but she just never had a chance to get serious with any sport due to circumstances. Her reflexes helped her a lot when she was playing dodgeball since she could safely avoid the balls that the girls in the class were throwing a bit too hardly at her.

When she was busy avoiding, she felt something get in the way of her ankle, and she stumbled down on the ground. Then a ball came flying, so she quickly moved her body to avoid being hit on the face, and got hit on her arm instead.

"My, I'm sorry! I didn't know you were on the ground since you blended in better down there." One of the girls said and looked down condescendingly, smirking at her.

'_Yeah right you fucking bitch.' _Miho thought, but just sighed inside and walked over to the bench quietly since she was technically out. Childish plays of jealous fangirls grew worse especially after results of _anything _came out, when Miho was always first place and Atobe second.

The school day ended and Miho headed over to the bookstore as usual. Now it was a routine that whenever Tezuka worked he was always there first before Miho got there.

"Hi Tezuka." She greeted, setting her bag down behind the counter.

"Hello."

After getting some maintenance jobs done around the store, Miho and Tezuka both studied for their college entrance exam that they were going to take in a few months.

"Miho. Kunimitsu." Yoshimoto called them as he came out of the back room. "I have some urgent matters to attend to; I'll be back by the rush hour, so please watch the shop. Also, re-stock isle J, the boxes should be up in the back shelves."

"Yes tenchou." They answered. The old man left and the two got up to re-stock the shelves. Miho went to retrieve the box in the shelves—but it was a bit too high up for her to reach.

"Nnngh…" She tiptoed, but she was barely able to touch it. Then something towered over her and two hands grabbed the box with ease. Tezuka was standing directly behind her, reaching above to get the box.

"Ah, thanks, Tezuka." She turned around to thank him, only to find herself awkwardly trapped in between his arms and the bookshelf.

"No problem." He looked down; his face grew hot as he realized that they were in a rather intimate position and that their faces were only a couple inches away from each other's. He quickly snapped out and set the box down on the floor.

Miho had a hard time breathing too. _'Wh-What's wrong with me…'_

They started re-stacking the books without saying much, feeling still a bit awkward from the scene just a moment ago. As she stepped up the small ladder and reached her arms up to put the books in place, her short sleeve pulled down a little and revealed a fresh bruise that Tezuka hasn't seen before that day. He stared intently and Miho soon noticed that he wasn't doing anything but staring in her direction.

"What's wrong?"

"You have a bruise on your arm." He said.

"Huh? Oh, this? Ahaha, I got this from playing dodgeball." She laughed.

"Haraue." Tezuka said with more seriousness in his voice than the usual. "You don't normally get a bruise this bad from playing dodgeball with girls. You've been injured every time since I first met you a month ago."

Miho just stood there, staring at him, wondering about where he's getting at.

"Excuse me~~?"

Then a door opened, sounding a chime, and a familiar voice rang out in the silent store.

"Coming!" Miho hurriedly yelled, stepped off the ladder, and made her way to the front of the store—and found her friend, Aoki Hana, standing there.

"Hana?!"

"MIHOO!" Hana came over and pounced on Miho. "So it _was _you working here! I thought I saw someone else but I guess I was wrong!"

"Why are you even here in the first place? I thought you don't go around town walking." Miho said.

"Yeah, well~ I just thought I'd do something else for a change. Oh, is he your co-worker? Hello!" She noticed Tezuka, who walked over to the front as well, and greeted.

"Hello."

"Wow, so this is what a bookstore is like…" The girl marveled as she looked around busily. Tezuka gave Miho a "just who is this" look and Miho just laughed smugly.

"Did you come to buy a book?"

"Mmmm, not really, but would you recommend me one? I'm kinda interested." Her friend said.

"Alright. What kind of book do you want to read?" Miho asked.

"I dunno… a book that you like! I always wondered what kind of books you read all the time."

"Okay." Miho laughed, walked over to a shelf, and pulled a book out.

"Here you go."

Hana held the book in her hand and read. "Little Women."

"I think this is the best to start with."

"Alright, then this one it is! How much is it?" Her friend pulled out her wallet.

"It'll be 500 yen."

After making the transaction Miho handed her friend a nicely wrapped book.

"Hehe, thanks Miho! I'll see you in school tomorrow!" She waved as she walked out.

"From Hyotei?" Tezuka asked.

"Yup. She's the daughter of the Aoki Corporations."

"Aoki…!" Tezuka was taken aback. As expected of Hyotei; people were on par with Atobe's social status. Tezuka looked outside—the girl was making a phone call not too far away from the store entrance, glancing at the store sign time to time. Tezuka felt a bit weird. Something felt a bit off.

* * *

Whys does Miho hate the rich so much? What did tenchou mean? And why is Atobe being such a dick? (Maybe he's just a dick lol. Ahobe.)

Join me on Wattpad!

Username **MamooCake**

Updating there will probably be faster since it's easier to use.


	3. All It Takes Is

The Tyrant's Pride

Chapter 3: All It Takes Is

At first it was nothing more than curiosity. Yes—curiosity caused by something that was similar yet unique in itself. She was knowledgeable in books, especially western classics; I found myself intrigued by her and her opinions about the books she read. I found myself fully engaging in her dialogues. I wanted to know what it'd be like if I could exchange deeper, longer conversations with her. Then I started noticing more things, like the color of her eyes, her nose, and her lips—and here I am now, not spending a minute without thinking about her.

After a hitting session, Tezuka was sitting on the bench at his school's tennis court, a bit dazed, with his racket still in his hands.

"Tezuka." A voice called him.

'_I wish it were Friday already.'_

"Tezuka."

'_Still, I'm worried about all those injuries she comes back with every time.'_

"Tezuka?"

"Ah, sorry Fuji." Tezuka snapped out and greeted the boy who was now sitting next to him, looking at him eagerly.

"You've been really out of it these days. Something's bothering you, right?" His friend, Fuji, asked while smiling nicely.

"Aah… you see…" Tezuka hesitated a bit. Would his friend listen to him? Was he going to talk about it? He's never talked about these things with him befor—

"Is it a girl problem?"

"How did you…!" Tezuka flinched a bit, widening his eyes. Tezuka admitted, his friend as a bit _too _sharp sometimes that it was a bit creepy.

"So that's what it was." Fuji chuckled. "You've been acting like a boy in love for a while… ever since you started taking that part-time job."

"A boy in love?" Tezuka furrowed his brows, slightly confused.

"Do you think about her all the time?"

"…Yes."

"Do you look forward to meeting her?"

"Yes." He thought. _'Ah, maybe I'm just worried about her—'_

"You're definitely in love."

'_So that's what it was… I like her.' _He then finally admitted it.

"So, what's bothering you so much? I can give you some advice." He asked.

"Well…" Tezuka paused, recollecting his thoughts and organizing them in his head. There was too much that he was worried about, from what the store manager told him to the possibility of her being bullied at school. "If there's ever a chance that she's in a pinch, but won't tell me… what can I do to protect her? And also, she doesn't tell me much about herself."

"Hm… a pinch? That's kind of a serious problem." Fuji crossed his arms and trailed off. "Being in a pinch but won't tell you much about it… I'm sorry Tezuka, but the only conclusion is that you're not close enough for her to rely on you."

Tezuka felt his heart shatter into pieces.

"I-Is that so…"

"But," Fuji interrupted him. "It has been only two months for you. Give it some time and make effort from your side and you guys will naturally draw closer. Have you met up with her outside of the bookstore?"

"No." He answered.

"See! You're not trying hard enough." Fuji said. "Take her out to town, treat her to desserts, and go see movies! Give her reassurance that you're always there for her and she'll talk about herself more."

"I see."

"Do you have her number?"

"…." Tezuka slapped himself inwardly. He didn't even have her cellphone number.

"Tezuka…" Fuji gave him a pitiful look.

"I-I'll get her number this week."

"Let me know how it goes."

A couple days later, Tezuka arrived at the bookstore on a Friday afternoon. Like the usual he checked around the store and re-organized the shelves, waiting for Miho to come.

The door opened and rang a chime.

'_She's here…!'_

"Hi Tezuka~" She greeted.

"Hello." He greeted as well, trying to keep his cool.

Another evening at work passed by and they were heading home. Ever since realizing that they walked the same direction until a certain point, they headed back together after work.

That night too, they walked together for a bit and had to go separate ways. Tezuka was now contemplating; how was he going to ask her for his number? How about a little "hang-out" tomorrow? Did she have any plans? Would she still come even if she didn't have any plans?

"Tezuka?" She called him, making him snap out from his contemplation.

"A-Aah."

"Good night. See you later."

"I'll see you tomorrow. And Haraue…" he trailed off. She stared at him intently.

"What's up?"

"Can I get your number? If something comes up…uh… I need to contact you, and…" He said and held out his phone, rambling on and on unlike his usual self. Miho stared up at his face and let out a snicker.

"Of course you can. You can have it even if nothing in particular comes up." She said and took his phone, entered her number and name. "There we go." She smiled and gave him back the phone.

"Thank you. I-I'll text you later." He stuttered as he put his phone back in his pocket. Now it was step two. If she didn't have any plans tomorrow, Saturday, now was his chance to ask. "And if you don't have any plans tomorrow after work… and, uh, if you'd like to go hang out or get some food. It's nothing too serious, but—"

"After work tomorrow? Sure. I'm free." She said much too simply. "Are we getting lunch?"

"Uh, yeah. We could go hang out afterwards too, or watch a movie. B-but it's fine if you don't want to—"

She laughed. "I would totally love to. I don't have any plans in particular, we could go chill."

Tezuka rejoiced inside. Fuji was right; all he had to do was make a move first. He came back home and lied down on the bed, exhausted from work and all the stress he had built up until Miho cleared it up nicely for him. He took out his phone in his pocket, opened up the phone call history, and found an unfamiliar yet lovely set of ten digit numbers. He pressed on the edit menu and tried to fill out a name.

'_Haraue Miho.' _He carefully pressed the buttons, making sure that her name was entered in correctly. He then saved the contact. Now he officially had her number. He put his hand over his eyes and sighed a bit. He couldn't stop his lips from curling upwards.

'_Ah, right. I have to send her a text.' _He sprang up and grabbed his phone with two hands, typing very slowly, trying to figure out a good way to express his gratitude over text without sounding like a baffling idiot.

_Hello Haraue. I wanted to thank yo_

_Hello Haraue. I want_

_Hello Haraue,_

_Hello Haraue, it's Tezuka._

_Hello Haraue, it's Tezuka. I wantrdto_

_Hello Haraue, it's Tezuka. I want_

_Hello Haraue, it's Tezuka. I wanted_

_Hello Haraue, it's Tezuka._

_Hello Haraue, it's Tezuka. Thanks a lot_

_Hello Haraue, it's Tezuka. Thanks a lot for the numbwr._

_Hello Haraue, it's Tezuka. Thanks a lot for the numbe_

_Hello Haraue, it's Tezuka. Thanks a lo_

_Hello Haraue, it's Tezuka. Th_

_Hello Haraue _

He kept on entering and deleting, making typos time to time. Texting girls was harder than he thought it would be. His fingers didn't settle down for a while that night.

Meanwhile, Miho was on her bed, relaxing while finishing up her homework and listening to a nice, slow music. Then, her music paused and a notification sound rang as she got a text from a strange number.

'_Ah, right. I gave him my number.'_

As she sat up, unlocked her phone and opened up her text window, the music resumed playing.

_Hello Haraue, this is Tezuka Kunimitsu._

_Again, thanks for the number. Sleep well and I'll see you tomorrow._

_Good night._

_-Tezuka._

She smiled, finding it amusing but cute at the same time that the texts themselves could seem just as stoic as the sender himself.

_Hi Tezuka! I was just about to sleep. _

_Good night to you too, see you tomorrow._

After sending him the text, she found herself at a particular place in a song that was playing through her earphones.

"_And can you feel the love tonight? _

_How it's laid to rest_

_It's enough to make kings and vagabonds_

_Believe the very best"_

She lied down flat on her back, her phone still in her hand. After staring at the ceiling for a moment, she covered her eyes with her other arm. The ends of her lips were pulling up by itself. Butterflies had begun flying around restlessly in her stomach.

* * *

The much anticipated day came and they were almost done with their morning shift. It finally became 12 o'clock, and the two got ready to leave after organizing the store one last time.

They walked out of the store after saying farewell to the store manager. After walking along the streets of downtown Tokyo, Tezuka stopped at an udon shop that was famous for their originality and tradition.

"Do you like udon?"

"Yeah, I like it!" She smiled as they stepped into the store.

The day passed by in a blink of an eye for Tezuka. He didn't know what he was doing or what he was thinking the whole time he was with her. After spending an entire day with her, they stopped by a nearby park before parting ways. They sat down on a bench, relaxing and resting their legs.

"Thanks Tezuka, it's been a while since I had this much fun." She said as she let out a long, pleasant sigh, sincerely happy.

"It was fun for me today too." He said. Then he realized that the last part of her sentence didn't quite feel right. How much was "a while" for her? They only ate and went window shopping, but was today really that much of a fun for her? He had a hard time constantly talking and he was worried that she might have gotten bored. Then he began recalling what the old manager had said, on top of a bruise that faintly showed on her arm.

"Haraue." He broke the silence that prolonged for a while.

"Hm?"

"…I want you to tell me if you're… having any troubles." He said. "No—I'm sure you are troubled by something. I wish I could help."

Miho just smiled and stared at the ground, playing with her feet, swinging them around. Her smile—which he adored the most—didn't seem like the usual serene smile that he saw on her face. Her lips smiled but her eyes didn't.

"Haraue." He called once again.

"Tezuka." She said quietly and calmly. "Ever hear of the quote "Perseverance, secret of all triumphs?"" She asked.

"By Victor Hugo… right?"

"Yup." She laughed a bit. "I really gotta give it to you; you're probably the only person that I could talk to and connect to this easily."

He just blinked, a bit taken aback due to a sudden confession, but nonetheless he was glad to have her think of him that way.

"What you had in mind… is right." She said. At that Tezuka turned his body to look at her.

"Then…!"

"But you see, the term "bullying" only applies when there's a perpetrator and a helpless victim." She smirked. "And I, for certain, am not a helpless victim. Those rich kids can't do anything but push me over time to time, sneak around nasty tricks, insult me… but they're just jealous."

She turned to look at him. Tezuka then saw it in her eyes. Those eyes were not of a weak, frail gazelle before its prey—those were the eyes of the powerful, the authoritative, and the dominant.

"They're jealous that a "commoner" like me gets to be on their level, get a full ride to their school, place top among the top."

Tezuka couldn't quite settle down on his words. She seemed like she had everything under her control. Her presence was domineering. But it just didn't give Tezuka a perfect reassurance.

"…Is there a reason why you're trying so hard to stay in Hyotei?" He asked.

"Almost 95% of Hyotei students are accepted into top-tier colleges. Of course, the rich kids end up overseas, but for me since I can't afford that, I might as well go to the top school in Japan."

"But you could have a chance in getting in just as much in other normal schools. You're already doing so well in Hyotei, you could probably do it in a breeze in other normal schools."

"Yeah, but being in Hyotei gives me almost 100% guarantee." She said. "And I need that assurance."

Tezuka didn't quite understand. Why was she so caught up in getting into a good college that badly? Was it worth all the pain she had to endure?

"I know what you're thinking. But I'm fine, really."

Tezuka sighed; he found quite a surprising new side to her. She was rather stubborn. But he could look over that, simply because it was Miho.

"Still, let me help you." He said. "I'll be your friend. I'll make you happy enough to not care about anything that will bother you."

At a rather bold and corny, old-school statement, Miho widened her eyes and stared at him in awe. "Wait, so what were we until now? We weren't friends?" She said with a hint of disappointment and confusion.

"Ah, th-that's not what I meant. What I meant is that… uh… well—" he fumbled a bit, trying to find an appropriate way to reason himself. Then she started chucking.

"I'm just kidding! You don't have to be so nervous."

Tezuka was now thinking that he should've carefully picked his words before spitting them out solely based on his instincts unlike his usual self, slapping himself in the face inwardly. He just made a big fool out of himself. Eighteen years out in this world never did he stutter or find himself disorganized in front of anyone, yet alone a _girl; _Miho just made him bring all his guards down.

"Tezuka, you're too nice." She said, finding it funny that Tezuka's expressions, albeit very subtle, were changing rather haphazardly unlike his usual self. "Well then, I accept your offer. Let's get along well, Kunimitsu!" She held out her hand in celebration of a fresh new start and definition of their relationship.

"Aah… do you mind if I…?"

"Nope, I don't." She answered, seeing through his question. "Thanks in advance."

"Same here," He gently grabbed her hand and shook it. "Miho."

* * *

Bullying is a form of uncontrolled action lashed out by the mentally immature and weak. Those who have inferiority complex, low rate of satisfaction, or simply have gone through a series of tribulations themselves have tendency to desire reassurances that they are in relatively better states than others through witnessing or participating in inducing others' pain and discomfort.

They are weak to the strong and strong to the weak. The imbalance of discipline and self-control results in their proneness to resorting to bursting of their unstable emotions in the form of violence and verbal threats.

But what they don't realize is that their actions cannot persist forever; when they encounter those that are unaffected by their actions, they are taken over by anger and distress which arises from their lack of control and significance over the vulnerable.

In the end, it is up to them to either realize or simply feign ignorance and continue their sinful acts—

Miho was heading over to the infirmary like she did every so often. She had scraped her knee from falling down a stair because someone pushed her. She definitely didn't appreciate it when she was about to have class. _'And I thought it died out a bit because it was quiet for a few days…' _

When she was treating her knee, a door to the infirmary opened and a very tall boy of enormous built walked in.

'_That's… the second year that's always with Atobe holding his bag for him…' _She thought as he made his way inside, not giving much attention to Miho, and pulled out a simple bandage. He set it down on the table and sat down. She peeped over to see what he was doing; he had a cut on his right hand. From the looks of it, the right hand was his dominant hand and he couldn't quite work well with his left. He kept on dropping the bandage while he was trying to put it on. Miho sighed lightly and walked over to him with a first-aid kit she was using.

"I'll help you." She said. "I hope you don't mind."

The boy didn't say a word, but he stopped working his hands. Taking his silence and discontinue of his action as compliance, Miho took his hand in hers and started putting ointment on it. Neither of them made an effort to break the deadly silence. Soon, Miho was done putting bandage on his hand.

"There you go. I hope it didn't hurt." She said and smiled, thinking back to the time when Tezuka was treating her injury. The boy stood up, stared at her with his rather dull-looking eyes, bowed very lightly, and walked out of the infirmary.

'_Not much talk, huh?' _She shrugged her shoulders, organized the kits, and headed out of the infirmary herself. _'I hope he doesn't say anything unnecessary to Atobe.' _

It finally became lunch break; Miho grabbed a book and her phone with earbuds as usual and headed to the backyard gardens, where she could have some peace and breathing room.

She picked up from the page she left off last time and played the music on her phone. About fifteen minutes later, her phone started ringing. The music paused and Miho looked at her phone to check who would call her at such time.

'_Kunimitsu?' _She widened her eyes a bit. She unplugged the earphones and answered the call.

"Hello?"

"_Ah—Miho." _His low, gentle voice came from the other side. _"Did you eat lunch?"_

"Uhh, not yet."

"_Are you going to?"_

"Nah, I think I'll skip for now." She said.

"_You shouldn't skip meals. It's bad for your body." _He scolded lightly. _"It's also good for you brain to eat your meals on time."_

"Okay, okay, I'll eat something later. So, what's up?"

"_Uh, I just thought that you'd… I mean if you're alone right now, I'd talk to you and keep you company." _He said, his voice tensing up a bit.

"Were you worried about me?" She chuckled and asked.

"…_.I was." _After a long silence he replied, which brought a smile upon her lips. _"I'll stay on the phone until the end of lunch break."_

"That's so nice of you. Have you eaten yet?"

"_I did." _

"What did you eat?"

"_I ate a school sandwich." _He said.

"That sounds pretty good."

"_It's not that impressive compared to what you eat in Hyotei, right?" _

"Yeah, they have caviar, foie gras, three-course meals and all those things… It's too much for a school lunch, to be honest." She said.

"_Where are you right now if you're not eating lunch? It seems quiet."_

"I'm at the school backyard garden. It's really quiet so it's nice to read books." She said.

Atobe strut down the garden path with Kabaji trailing behind him. The fangirls got especially annoying that day, squealing and asking him to eat lunch with them, and Atobe just left with his student council work as an excuse.

His steps slowed down and his ears perked up as he heard a familiar voice but in a rather unfamiliar expressiveness. As he turned the corner, around a tree, he saw Miho at the same spot as last time, except her attention not on the book but on the person that she was talking to over the phone.

It wouldn't be Aoki Hana because it was pointless to talk over a phone when they're in the same school. Who was it? She looked way happier and lively than when she was with Aoki. His brows furrowed, getting irritated by her face and voice. He didn't really know why, it just did. It irritated more than the usual.

After observing her for a good minute, he spun on his foot and headed back to the school cafeteria with an irritated look still on his face.

'_Haraue Miho. You just have a knack for irritating people out of their wits.' _

* * *

There's a major difference between me and Atobe that makes me perform better: hunger and thirst beyond passion. I am desperate. I am voracious. If this way is the only way I can survive in this capitalistic society, I have no choice but to struggle. In the end, one has to fly and one has to crash. A German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche once said, "That which does not kill us makes us stronger." It didn't kill me and it made me stronger. Despair and failure only augments one's voracity.

Obviously, people like Atobe have never experienced real despair before; they've never hit rock bottom. If they've ever hit the bottom of anything, it'd be the bottom of their bowls which they have been feeding off of with their silver spoons. Only those who crashed know the consequences of crashing. It can't be felt vicariously.

It has to rip your life apart to a point you no longer wish you existed.

Miho was taking a walk around the garden during lunch break. Tezuka had texted earlier that he had student council meeting and that he couldn't make a phone call. Having finished her book and thinking she'd spend time taking a walk, she traced her steps along the brick trail of the garden.

Then she spotted someone walking in her direction not too far away. She realized that it was the same guy that she saw in the infirmary, the one that was always with Atobe. He was not with Atobe this time around, however.

Not really needing to say hi or anything, they just brushed past against each other—until Miho heard something drop onto the ground. She turned around and saw that his wallet had fallen out of one of his tennis bags and he didn't seem to have heard it drop.

"Hey!" She called out, grabbing the wallet. The boy turned around slowly. "You dropped this."

She handed him the wallet. He stared at the wallet, then at her. She couldn't quite tell what he was thinking just from his eyes.

"…Thank you very much." He said rather slowly.

"No problem." She said and continued walking down her path. _'So that's what he sounds like when he talks.'_

The boy just stood there, watching Miho walk away. He then set his bags down and returned the wallet in its proper place, making sure to zip everything up correctly.

"Kabaji!" A familiar voice called out his name. He then saw Atobe coming to his direction. "I'm done with the meeting. Let's go eat."

Atobe then realized that Kabaji had turned his head away, as if he was looking for something.

"What are you looking for?"

"It's nothing." He slowly answered.

"Huh. Well, let's go eat. I'm hungry."

"Usu."

* * *

Please leave a review! It'd be nice to have some feedback on what the readers like so I have an idea of how to improve. It also keeps my spirits up! Thanks :D

Also, find me on wattpad! Username is MamooCake :D


	4. Love Brings Out the Best and the Worst

**I just absolutely love writing this story because Tezuka. Period.**

The Tyrant's Pride

Chapter 4: Love Brings Out the Best and the Worst

"This is some very rare data…!"

"See! I told you it was for real!"

"Shh! You're being too loud, Eiji!"

It was during lunch break in Seishun Academy. Three boys, the maroon-haired one, the black-haired one with two little bangs at the front, and a spikey-haired one with glasses, hid behind a tree as they tried their best to eavesdrop on their stoic friend while he talked on the phone.

"Eiji. Are you _sure_ you saw him smile?" Inui, the one in glasses, asked.

"I swear! I swear on my life!" He nodded his head vigorously.

"Why, what did you see?" A new voice joined in. They all turned around and found Fuji.

"Fuji! Tezuka's being really weird lately! I saw him smile when he was talking on the phone a few days ago! It's _the _Tezuka Kunimitsu! Smiling!" Kikumaru, the maroon haired one, said. "And he's been leaving every lunch break to make a phone call!"

"I know who he's talking to." Fuji said calmly. "It's a girl."

"WHHAAAAAAT!?" They all yelped. Tezuka, who undoubtedly heard the unmistakably loud yelps of his friends, shot back and found them hiding behind a tree.

"You…!" Tezuka stood up, troubled and surprised.

"CRAP HE SAW US!"

"_Kunimitsu? Is something wrong?"_

"It's nothing." He replied over the phone, trying to remain calm. They all came over to him and stared at him intently, making him very uncomfortable. "I-I'll see you after school. Something came up."

"_Okay. Bye Kunimitsu. See you later."_

"Bye."

Tezuka hung up and sighed.

"Tezuka! I didn't know you had a girlfriend!"

"She's not my girlfriend." He said, blushing very faintly.

"Soon to be girlfriend." Fuji corrected.

"Fuji." Tezuka gave him a troubled look.

"I'm just telling the truth." He smiled, enjoying the situation a bit too much. Tezuka groaned inwardly and rubbed his temple. This was the first time his friends got this excited, and to tell the truth, their overenthusiasm intimidated him.

After barely managing to avoid the subject much thanks to the bell ringing, Tezuka finally finished his long day at school and headed over to the bookstore like the usual. He greeted the store manager, tidied up the store, and sat down behind the counter with a book in his hand. The clock pointed 3:30; Miho should be coming in any time soon. He pinned his eyes back to the book that they both started reading. A few minutes passed and his ears picked up a sound he'd been waiting for since the start of the day. The chime on the door rang as Miho opened the door and made her way into the store.

"Good afternoon Miho." He couldn't fight his smile as he greeted her.

"Hi Kunimitsu." She greeted. "Good afternoon, tenchou!" She went to the back room and greeted the old man as well. She set her bag down behind the counter like the usual and sat next to Tezuka.

Tezuka, who seemed to have remembered something, grabbed a shopping bag he had put away in one of the drawers. He then put it between him and Miho, taking out the material inside.

"I bought some sandwich on the way. You didn't eat lunch, right?"

"No, I ate—" Then a growl escaped her stomach. "Wagh! Y-You didn't hear any of that."

"But I did, and your stomach says otherwise." He chuckled and said, handing her the sandwich after unwrapping it. "Eat."

Miho smiled smugly and took the sandwich into her hands. "Thanks Kunimitsu."

"You're welcome." He replied. He then grabbed another sandwich and a drink and headed over to the back room to also give the old manager his portion, which Miho found very thoughtful of him.

'_Well, he always had great manners.' _ She had to admit. She took a bite into her sandwich, enjoying the food in her mouth after skipping breakfast and lunch.

"Here's a drink." He handed her a drink, putting the straw inside.

"Thanks."

She sipped on the straw, her expression relaxing from the coolness of the drink, which Tezuka couldn't help but find it loveable and adorable. As she diligently worked on her sandwich, Tezuka looked at her with a smile, very satisfied that she was eating well.

She finished her sandwich soon enough and sipped on the drink to refresh after her final bite.

"Aaah. That was so good." Miho said with the straw still in her mouth, her face clearly content from food that was in her stomach. Tezuka, who had finished his sandwich a long time ago, just stared at Miho with a satisfied smile.

"You have some sauce right here." He noticed a white spot on the side of her mouth and pointed at his mouth around the area where her sauce seemed to have gotten on.

"Here?" She took her finger and rubbed, just missing the spot.

Then something came over Tezuka; he grabbed a napkin and wiped it away for her, grabbing the bottom of her chin with his other hand. After he wiped, he couldn't help but stare into her lips for a while.

"U-Um… Kunimitsu." Miho called, making him snap out. He then realized that her face was slightly red and that she had averted her eyes from the embarrassment. He flinched and retracted his hands immediately, turning away so that she wouldn't catch him blushing. He must look like a complete idiot right now.

"S-Sorry." He stuttered and apologized. He didn't know what came over him; he acted on a whim.

"It's okay, thank you." She laughed, finding his reaction amusing. "You know, you got a lot more expressive since the first time I met you."

Tezuka pondered. Did he, really? He didn't realize or yet alone give it a consideration until Miho mentioned it. "Is that so…?"

"Yeah. It took me about a week to see you smile for the first time. And you rarely laugh out loud." She said, recalling back to their first week of working together when she thought that Tezuka absolutely disliked her because he would rarely smile or talk. But he was just that kind of guy—reserved but kind-hearted.

'_And I certainly can't say that I smile only when I'm around you or when I'm just thinking about you…' _He thought, making sure to not say it out loud.

"You look really nice when you smile. You should smile more often." Miho grinned, making him flustered once again. She really didn't know how to hold back in saying what she had in her mind and it always got the better of Tezuka.

"Th-Thank you. I'll try to smile more often." He replied, fighting the heat that concentrated around his cheeks. Then they both heard the chime ring.

"Welcome~" Miho greeted and Tezuka turned back to greet as well—and found two of his friends coming in through the door, smiling much too creepily for his own good.

'_Oh no.'_

"Hello. We're Tezuka's friends." Inui said, still putting on a grin. "Nice to meet you, I'm Inui Sadaharu."

"Hello. I'm Fuji Syuusuke." Fuji introduced.

"Oh, hello!" Miho greeted as well, finding it interesting to have met Tezuka's friends. They definitely seemed a lot more talkative than him. "Nice to meet you, I'm Haraue Miho."

"F-Fuji. Inui." He greeted, rather nervous that he found his friends in the current environment. "What brings you guys here?"

"Oh, I just thought I'd buy a book." Fuji said.

"I'm just tagging along." Inui said.

Even though they said such things their ulterior motives were given away as they were busy scanning Miho, who was quite puzzled by the looks they were giving her.

"Ah, right. Tezuka, could you recommend me a book?" Fuji asked, his gaze finally averting away from Miho. Tezuka reluctantly got up and walked over to the back shelves, following the two unwelcomed customers.

"What are you thinking." Tezuka said quietly.

"Hou… not bad, Tezuka. She's pretty in my standards. She seems very nice too." Inui said.

"Yes, she is very cute." Fuji smiled very innocently.

Tezuka just let out a sigh. "So, what kind of books are you looking for?"

"Oh, we know what we're getting." Fuji said. "We just wanted to tell you that you're doing a great job."

"Yes. I admire you very much, Tezuka. You're a great man."

Fuji and Inui each put his hand on Tezuka's shoulders and held up a thumb, flashing a smile.

'_It can't be… they saw me doing that back there…?' _Tezuka thought, recalling his embarrassing action from a few minutes ago. Judging by the stupid grins they put on their faces, it had to be. _'Of all days. Great timing, Kunimitsu.'_

"Keep this a secret, please." He said, clearing his throat.

"Don't worry. We didn't bring Eiji and Oishi on purpose. They would be the first to go nuts." Fuji chuckled and said much too happily.

'_Well thanks for that…' _Tezuka rolled his eyes in his head.

"Anyways," Fuji searched along the shelves and pulled a book out. "I'm glad that you two are getting along."

"What Fuji said, Tezuka. We are cheering for you." Inui added as well.

"Thanks."

"Kunimitsu?" Then Miho called him.

"Yes?" He replied, raising his voice a little. When there was no answer, he called her again. "Miho, did you need something?"

"Yeah! Sorry to bother you guys but can you get the box on the top shelf? I can't reach it." Miho said from the front of the store, her voice sounding like she was struggling a bit.

"Coming." He said, and made his way to the front of the store, secretly thanking Miho for letting him escape his friends' interrogations and sweet but uncomfortable support. What he missed as he walked away was his friends' grin getting wider from hearing the two going on a first-name basis.

"Atta boy." Fuji grinned and mumbled, and Inui was scribbling down furiously on his notebook, not forgetting to put on a grin just as wide as Fuji's.

"I think I will need to buy another notebook." Inui said. "The data I just took is beyond the limit."

Tezuka stepped up on the ladder and easily reached for the box on the very top shelf. He brought it down and stepped off the ladder. "Where would you like me to put this?"

"Ah, just on the counter is fine." She replied. "Sorry for bothering."

"No, don't worry about it." Tezuka said. _'In fact, I really want to thank you for getting me out of that just now.'_

Then they spotted Fuji and Inui making their way to the counter, each with an item in his hand. Inui placed his notebook on the counter.

"Is this all for you?" Miho asked.

"Yes."

"I can wrap it." Tezuka said.

"Ah, thanks." Miho handed him the notebook.

"I'll be 300 yen."

After Inui made a transaction, Fuji placed his book on the counter.

"I'll be 500 yen." She said after scanning.

Fuji handed her money and she grabbed a piece of paper to start wrapping the book as well. She then noticed that the two boys also had tennis bags on their shoulders.

"Do you guys play tennis as well?" She asked.

"Ah, yes. We're teammates."

"Kunimitsu told me that Seigaku went to Nationals." She said. "And I heard that you guys won it in middle school too. You guys must be good."

"We're not as good as Tezuka, though." Fuji said, smiling. "He's one of the best in the nation. He gets scouted by pro coaches all the time."

"Really?!" She gasped and looked at Tezuka. "I didn't know you were _that _good." She looked at him with sparkling eyes.

"I-It's nothing too big." Tezuka said, getting a bit flustered by the look Miho gave him.

"He's just being modest." Fuji said. He was out to get him by using Miho as his weapon. What a sneaky guy.

By then she was done wrapping the book. She stamped it, put it in a bag along with his receipt and handed it to Fuji.

"Thank you for your purchase." Miho said and smiled.

"Thank you." Fuji said. The two then headed towards the exit.

"Then Tezuka, see you at school tomorrow." Fuji and Inui said.

"Aah."

"And nice meeting you too, Haraue-san."

"It was my pleasure. Good-bye."

The door closed and the chime rang. Even as they walked way, they waved to the two inside the store. They waved back, and Tezuka let out a small sigh after seeing them disappear into a crowd of people.

"They're really nice, I like them." Miho said.

"They're good guys, yes." Tezuka replied. _'Although not the most helpful in situations like this.'_

* * *

On a Sunday night, Miho was sitting at her dining table while drinking milk to make up for dinner she missed. She was writing down her weekly expenditures and plans on her budget book.

'_Minus again…' _She sighed and rubbed her face as she put her pen down. _'I guess spending only that much per week was a bit of a push. But it's going to be bad at this rate...' _

Next day—

"More shifts?"

"Yes."

Miho was talking to the store manager Yoshimoto in the back room about an hour prior to store closing.

"Hm, I did have one of the other part-timers leave just recently, so it shouldn't be a problem, but… are you sure you could handle that much?" He asked worriedly. "I can just give you a raise. Miho, you're already stressing yourself out… I'm worried."

"Thank you for the consideration tenchou, but that's not necessary." She said. "I can't earn more than what I work for. Please let me cover just one more shift."

Yoshimoto sighed, putting on a sad smile. "It hurts to see you pushing yourself this much."

"I'm fine, really." She said reassuringly. "Plus, covering shifts shouldn't be a problem since my shifts right now got easier thanks to Kunimitsu."

"Alright, I guess I can't stop you." He gave into her and said. "Then you can do Thursday after school starting this week."

"Thank you tenchou!" She smiled widely and bowed.

She walked out and headed to the counter. She sat down next to Tezuka and started working on her homework.

"Did something happen?" Tezuka asked, curious that she was talking to the store manager for quite a while.

"Ah, no. I'm just covering one more shift starting from this week." She said.

"More shifts? Are you sure you can do that much?" He asked.

"Yeah, especially since my usual shifts got easier thanks to you." She laughed, gluing her eyes back to her workbook. Tezuka still looked worried because he was well aware of the fact that she always pushed herself to keep herself top-notch in school as well.

Miho then got stuck on a certain unit in world history. Well this was a problem; her world history test was just two days away. She sighed. _'Another all-nighter I guess…'_

Noticing her sigh, Tezuka glanced over and found her frowning at the same page she's been on for a while. _'If she's having trouble with world history I could help her…' _He thought. Although he wasn't particularly weak in any subjects, his best subject was world history, after all.

"Kunimitsu. You're good at world history, right?" She finally asked and he rejoiced a bit inside.

"It's my best subject. Do you need help?" He asked.

"Yeah. I just can't wrap my head around this last unit and my test is this Wednesday." She said and sighed.

"Very well, I can help you. Are you busy tomorrow?" He asked.

"No, I'm free. I was just planning to study." She replied.

"Then do you want to meet at the library after I finish tennis practice?"

"Yeah! That'd help so much. Thanks Kunimitsu." She gleamed. Tezuka was just glad that she came to him for help. It was a sign that they were closer than before.

* * *

"Aahn~? Are you sure?"

"_Yeah, I'm positive." _

Atobe twirled on his spinning chair and talked to the person on the phone as he looked out the giant arched window in his office. His lips curled up more and more as the conversation progressed.

"How interesting. Very well, keep looking into it."

"_Alright! See you later~"_

Atobe hung up and put his phone down on the face of his desk. His smirk didn't disappear for a while as he seemed to be thinking about something while staring out the window. Kabaji just sat on the couch by the side. He stared into space, thinking about—

"Oi, Kabaji. It's time for school." Atobe came over and said, putting his school uniform jacket on. Kabaji stood up, slung two bags over his shoulders, and followed Atobe out of his room.

Atobe stepped into the classroom and found the source of his distress sitting in her seat, reading the book like she always did. He smirked and walked over to his seat which was a few feet away from hers. He glanced back a bit and found her now with a phone in her hand, texting someone. A smile crept up on her face as her fingers moved. He has never seen her eyes as softened as now and lips as curvy until recently. He began wondering.

Then the teacher came in; Miho quickly put her phone away but still kept a smile.

Meanwhile, in Seigaku, Tezuka was spending his day in school as well, anticipating for the day to finish so he could go meet Miho at a library. After school he headed out to the courts and went into the club shack to change into his tennis attire. He then walked out to the courts after changing; all the members greeted him, the captain of their team.

When he was done with practice it was about six o'clock; it ended a bit later than the usual because they were busy preparing for the Kantou tournament that was coming up. He took a shower so that he didn't reek of sweat (he was just self-conscious) and even put on a fresh new shirt. Figuring that he wouldn't make in time to meet Miho if he ate dinner first, he just headed over to the library right after. As he walked out of the school gates, his friends called him and walked up to him.

"Tezuka~! Do you want to go eat?" Kikumaru asked.

"Sorry, I'll have to pass this time, I have something to do. Then see you all tomorrow."

"Alright~"

Tezuka headed over to the library they had planned to meet up in. Miho had texted him earlier to let him know that she saved a study room, so he headed over to find her. After passing by several rooms, he found the girl he was looking for. He knocked, got her attention, and went inside the room.

"Hey." She greeted.

"Hi." He greeted as well and sat down, putting his bag on the floor.

"How was practice?"

"It was good."

"You don't seem tired at all. I'd be beaten to a pulp if I practiced that long." She laughed.

They soon began studying. Tezuka taught her important points to remember for the unit and explained to her which events had which affects. Miho always knew that he was smart but thought he was very knowledgeable, especially in world history.

"It's a lot to memorize…" She said, flipping over the pages. _'Total twenty pages… a page should be about fifteen to twenty minutes to re-organize and review, which is about seven hours… man, this is definitely an all-nighter—'_

"Here." She snapped out of her thoughts as Tezuka placed a notebook in front of her. It said "World History – Tezuka Kunimitsu."

"What is this?"She picked up the book and flipped through it.

"They're my notes for the curriculum. All the points are organized, so no need for you to go back and write down everything." He said. Miho's eyes widened as she flipped through the notebook. Neat handwriting, detailed notes far below the surface level, on top of high-quality organization—this guy was really something.

"Whoa… this is amazing. Thanks, this is going to help so much." Miho said and looked at Tezuka with sheer admiration, almost to a point of reverence.

"I'm glad you find it helpful." He replied, a bit embarrassed but proud. He wanted to pat himself on the back for being a studious student who could help a girl he likes (who is also very smart) whenever she struggled. Good job, Kunimitsu. You scored.

Then a growl escaped his stomach. The two froze.

"You hungry?" Miho asked, fighting an urge to smile.

"N-No not really—"

Then a second growl, louder than the first, escaped his stomach once again. Tezuka looked away in embarrassment, his cheeks getting slightly pink. He really hated his body as of that moment.

"Your stomach says otherwise." She said and giggled, repeating what he had said just the day before. He cleared his throat, punching himself inside over and over again for showing such an embarrassing side to her. Not even his friends caught him in such an embarrassing state.

"So cute." She said, resting her chin on her hand and leaning a bit towards Tezuka's direction, staring at his face while grinning. It made his cheeks grow noticeably red.

"C-Cute is not something you use to describe a guy." Tezuka replied, still looking away. At that Miho couldn't help but coo inside.

"_But you really are cute right now. _Okay, okay. My treat! Let's go get something to eat; I need to eat dinner too. Knowing you, you probably didn't eat to be on time."

"Alright." Tezuka sighed inwardly. She knew him too well now. _'On the bright side, I get to stay with her longer.' _Maybe it wasn't so bad, after all.

The two headed out of the library; Miho took him to a restaurant-café not too far away, just in the corner of the block. They sat outside because the inside was packed. The waiter came over to take the order after they looked over the menu a bit.

Meanwhile—

"Wait here; I need to buy something." Atobe said to his chauffeur. He got out of the car and started walking towards the restaurant. The restaurant-café located in the corner of the block was Kabaji's favorite place. He thought that Kabaji was spacing out often recently, so he wanted to cheer his friend up by getting his favorite food if there was anything that troubled him.

'_If I recall correctly, his favorite was the peach strudel and their Italian soda…' _Atobe thought as he stood in a long line that to order a take-out. "Three peach strudels and a strawberry soda." He ordered and paid with his platinum black card, which the cashier widened his eyes at after taking it.

Back to Tezuka and Miho—

Tezuka and Miho were done eating their food.

"I need to use the restroom, I'll be right back." Miho excused herself to go to the bathroom. She made her way inside the crowded store. As long the line to order food was, so was the line for the ladies' bathroom; the line stood outside the door as well. She went to the back of the line and leaned on the wall behind. She sighed a bit, tuning herself out of the busy background noises, occasionally catching glimpses of Tezuka sitting outside whenever there weren't people in their way. She smiled as she saw him organizing their plates so that it was easy for the waiters to clean up.

She then noticed that there was a gap in front of her; she caught up to the line and went inside the bathroom.

And back to Atobe once again—

The order came out fast; Atobe took the paper bag in his hands and walked out. Then, through the crowds, he noticed a familiar face sitting on a table outside of the store. He walked over and found his long-tennis rival Tezuka Kunimitsu sitting down on a table with two empty plates stacked up.

"Tezuka." Atobe called. Tezuka looked up and saw Atobe holding a brown bag in his hands which were from the store he was eating at also.

"Long time no see, Atobe." Tezuka greeted. "Did you come out of this store?"

"Aah. Kabaji likes this place. What are you doing here?" He scanned the seat on the opposite side of Tezuka. There was a jacket that seemed to be a girl's. Intrigued, he perked up his brows. "Hou… with a girl?"

"Yes." The stoic captain of Seigaku merely confirmed the fact.

Although Atobe was pretty interested in seeing a girl that was with _the _Tezuka Kunimitsu, he wasn't free enough to idly hang around and wait.

"Well, I hope your date is going well." He said. "I'll see you at the semifinals. We'll beat you this time around."

"We won't go down so easily, Atobe." Tezuka said as well. Atobe smirked and walked away, back to his car that was waiting for him.

Tezuka then noticed Miho walking out of the store.

"Sorry to make you wait, the line was longer than I thought." She apologized and sat down.

"It's fine." He said. Since they went to the same school, he thought about telling her how he ran into Atobe, but Miho didn't really seem to care about him. So he left the topic unattended. They paid for the food, got up, and headed back home together. Before they parted, they stood facing each other.

"Thanks a lot for the food." Tezuka thanked once again.

"No, I should thank you. The note's going to really help." She smiled.

"Good luck on your test tomorrow. What period is it?"

"It's the third period."

"Then we'll know how it went by lunch break."

"Yeah." She laughed, glad that he already assumed that he was going to call her during lunch break (although he has been doing so almost every day). "…Thanks a lot for everything, Kunimitsu." After a long pause, Miho smiled very warmly and said.

"You're welcome." He replied, a bit puzzled by the vagueness of the word "everything." Nonetheless, he was glad to be the one that Miho relied on. She walked away, waving at him. He waved back until she turned around to go her own way. He then walked his own way as well, feeling like his steps were lighter than the usual. Tezuka, once again, like every time, was reminded that he loved the idea of seeing Miho until the end of his long day.


	5. Spring-Like Summer

The Tyrant's Pride

Chapter 5: Spring-Like Summer

"Time's up. Put your pencil down and pass your test to the front."

The sound of paper flipping and rustling with sighs of the students filled the class after fifty minutes of long but short silence. Miho grabbed the test from the person behind her, piled her test, and passed it forward to the person in the front. She finally relaxed; thanks to Tezuka's notes, she was able to save time as well as study with ease. Although she was tired from not getting enough sleep, had it not been for him, she would've had to pull an all-nighter and take the test on the worst condition possible.

The bell rang, signaling the start of a lunch break. Miho got up with her book and cell phone in her hand as usual. Then she headed over to the dining hall. Ever since Tezuka has been nagging her to not skip meals, or at least eat lunch on days she misses breakfast, she's been going to the dining hall to get some food to eat. And Tezuka would make sure and check every time.

The lunch was a buffet style, and the dining hall was decorated with elegant dining tables with velvet tablecloths, artisan-made silverware and dishware, and high-class gourmet food that Miho could probably never have the guts to pay for outside of school unless she starved for a week.

She used to always skip lunch because she grew sick and repugnant in seeing such luxurious sights; the gap between her reality and their reality made her want to never step inside the school ever again. But being convinced by Tezuka that she should make the most out of what she can get for free (being a full-ride scholarship recipient), she started to visit more often.

She grabbed a dish and piled some food, sat down in an empty table, and started eating. Excited chatters filled the hall; Miho then noticed her friend, Aoki Hana, sitting with her friends and chatting. Their eyes met—but she just looked away and continued to chat and laugh with her friends.

'_Huh. I guess it was my imagination.' _Miho thought. She soon finished her food and walked out, heading over to the backyard garden. Just as she left the dining hall, her phone rang.

"Kunimitsu I think I aced that test." She spoke excitedly as soon as she picked up the call, earning a chuckle from the guy on the other side of the line.

"_I'm glad to hear that. So, did you properly eat lunch today?" _

"I did. I told you, I won't skip meals from now on." She said, laughing a bit.

The conversation between the two prolonged until the school bell rang. Talking to Tezuka made her day even better after acing her test.

The day went by pretty fast from then on. Miho walked out of the school, her shoulders feeling lighter than ever. She looked up and found a clear blue sky without even a trace of clouds. The scent of the flowers tickled her nose and the soft breeze brushing her hair gently made her let out a sigh of relief.

"MIHO~!"

Then she heard a familiar voice calling her from a distance. She turned around and found Hana running over to her.

"Hey Hana." She greeted.

"How'd you do on the test today?"

"I think I did pretty well." She replied. "How was yours?"

"Eeh, I don't know. History's not my thing." Her friend laughed and scratched her head smugly. Miho then thought about how history was totally Tezuka's _thing. _Wait, that reminds her…

'_Didn't he say his history test was this week or something along that line…? Wait… It's tomorrow!' _She gasped, earning a puzzled look from her friend walking next to her. Miho pulled out her phone and started dialing urgently. _'Please pick up…!' _Betraying her wishes the call didn't get through; Tezuka was probably in tennis club practice by then.

"What's wrong?" Hana asked.

"It's nothing big. Something urgent came up, I'll be going first. See you later!" Miho started speeding up, waving at her friend as she walked away. _'I guess I have to go to Seigaku and give it back to him…'_

After about a 50-minute bus drive plus walking, she finally reached the school gates of Seishun Gakuen. Before going into the school, she grabbed a sports drink from the convenience store nearby and headed inside. She earned curious looks of students in Seigaku. Maybe it wasn't a great idea to come with her school uniform still on. It attracted too much attention much to her dismay. It's not even like she was like other students in Hyotei, either. She hated being grouped into the same category as them.

She found her way to the tennis courts and saw the boys' tennis team practicing. She got closer and found Tezuka looking over the team in his blue-white Seigaku tennis uniform with his arms crossed. It was the first time seeing him in sporty clothes, and Miho had to admit, he gave off the aura of a true leader and a captain.

'_And I guess he looks cool too…' _She thought. Not wanting to bother the practice, she sat down on the shaded are of the grass by the courts, using the tree as a backrest. She sat down, took out her homework to finish early since she was covering one more shift starting that week. It only took her twenty minutes to finish the since she was almost done with it. She closed the work book and observed the courts. They were still busy practicing and Tezuka was now hitting with some of the other members.

A cool, relaxing breeze came over and the tree leaves danced around, creating rustling noises that soothed her auditory senses. Sunlight shone through the small gaps in the green, ample leaves of the tree occasionally, giving her warmth. Miho yawned a little; it's been a while since she stayed completely relaxed with nothing to do at hand.

Without realizing her eyelids slowly began to droop down, and in the end a black, comforting blanket came over her world.

Tezuka was monitoring the team practice as usual.

"I feel like buchou's been less harsh with us these days."

"Yeah, he doesn't assign us as many laps as before."

The club members whispered amongst themselves. They thanked whatever saved them from running laps by making their stoic captain a bit less rigid. Tezuka finished his hitting session and came back to the bench to rest. His water bottle then made an airy noise; he noticed that he drank all the water. He went out to refill his water bottle until—

'_Hm? That's…' _He noticed a figure under the tree near the courts, and the uniform was that of Hyotei's. He recognized the figure. _'It can't be…' _He walked over to confirm his doubts, but was shocked after realizing that it really was Miho sitting under the tree. He walked over and when he got closer enough to inspect her face, he saw her sleeping.

He crouched in front of her and examined her face. She seemed very tired because she was fast asleep. His eyes softened; he had never seen her sleep or yet alone in such a defenseless state. Her chest rose up and down very faintly to match her soft breathing and the gentle spring breeze made her hair flutter slowly. He noticed that her skirt rose up a little due to the breeze and it exposed her legs a bit too much, all the way to her upper thighs; he took his jacket off and placed it on her lap carefully, trying not to wake her up.

She frowned a bit and mumbled in her sleep. He froze—and sighed in relief after her frowns disappeared. He stared at her face the entire time; the hair got in the way, so he carefully reached his hand out, took the strands hanging on the front of her face, and slowly and gently clipped it to the back of her ear. He observed her face carefully, unknowingly taking advantage of the situation. _'Her eyelashes are long… her nose is cute too. And her lips…' _His eyes lingered on her lips for the longest time. Without realizing, he inched closer—

"Stop pushing!"

"E-Eiji, he'll catch us…!"

"Momoshiro, your head's too damn big!"

Then his ears caught not-so-soft whispers of his teammates. He turned and found them hiding behind the court gate. They all flinched as Tezuka turned to look at them.

"UWAH! He found us!"

"I-I TOLD YOU!"

Then they all settled down, a bit awed by what Tezuka did: he put his index finger to his lips, gesturing them to be quiet, and looked at the girl sitting down.

"Aha. Shhh. Guys, he wants her to sleep." Fuji said, smiling a bit too widely.

"R-Right. Shh…" They all hushed down instantaneously, putting their index fingers to their lips as well.

"Fuji, did you get that just now?" Inui asked.

"Of course. Every second of it." Fuji laughed, holding onto his camera away from Tezuka's sight. "A surprise present for the two when they get together… but until then, a good blackmailing item."

Tezuka sighed as he watched his teammates go back into the courts quietly. He looked back at the girl to make sure she was still sleeping. She must've had a reason why she came all the way to Seigaku. He then guessed that she was doing her homework, as there were a stack of post-it, her pencil case, and a workbook. He took the post-it, scribbled something down, and put it on the front cover of the workbook. He then headed back to the courts after tidying the jacket on her lap one last time.

When he went back into the courts and walked past his teammates, he felt their intense and suggestive gazes following him. He sighed inwardly.

"Tezuka~" Kikumaru called him. Tezuka didn't feel so comfortable from the tone of his voice.

"She's a friend." He said before anyone else started throwing questions at him. Even with that Kikumaru (and the others) didn't stop grinning. "We're continuing the practice. Everyone, hit serves. Kantou tournament is just within a week."

Even as they grabbed their rackets and headed over to the courts as Tezuka requested, they didn't stop grinning at him. Tezuka just let out a defeated sigh.

Miho's eyes opened slowly; after realizing where she was at, she flinched and brought her back apart from the tree, and looked around. The sun was closer to the horizon than before. She then noticed something over her lap; it was a jacket similar to the one that Tezuka was wearing during practice. Then she knew that it was his as she spotted embroidery on the jacket that said "Tezuka Kunimitsu." She blushed a bit, thinking that Tezuka took it off and placed it over her bare legs. He probably did it so that her skirt didn't get blown up because of the wind. She then also noticed that there was a post-it note with a message on it stuck to the front of her workbook. She took it off and read, "You slept so soundly I couldn't wake you up. The practice ends early so if you don't mind, could you wait?"

'_Of course I don't mind.' _She smiled, feeling her heart beating faster. She got up to stretch; her legs felt stiff from sitting down too long. She wondered what time it was so she pulled out her phone and it displayed 4:36. _'Crap, I slept for an hour!?' _

Then she noticed Tezuka coming out of the courts. He saw her and walked over to her.

"Hey Kunimitsu. Thanks for the jacket. I didn't know I fell asleep." She said and laughed smugly, which made Tezuka smile. "Oh, here you go." She then handed him back the jacket.

"You can keep it. It's getting a little chilly."

"You sure?"

"Yes."

"Alright."

"Did you see the note?"

"Ah, yeah. I don't mind waiting."

"Good. We can go get dinner afterwards. It should be over in about thirty to forty minutes." He said.

"Sounds good. Oh yeah, and here." She went through her bag and took out a sports drink. "It's not as cold anymore since I bought it before I came, but here you go."

"Thank you." He accepted and smiled, touched by her thoughtfulness.

"I actually came to return the notebook to you; you said you had a test tomorrow, right?" She said.

"Ah, yes but it's for math." He said.

"Eh…" She paused. "Man, I freaked out thinking that you had a history test… oh well." She laughed.

"Still, thank you for coming all the way here." He said.

"No problem. Alright, back to practice Tezuka-buchou. I'll watch you play." She said, nudging his back. Tezuka smiled at her one last time before going back into the court to get ready to wrap up practice. The club practice ended with all the club members shouting out "good work today" and they all came out of the gates, one by one. She waited patiently for Tezuka to come out. He came out along with his teammates; they headed over to the shack to get changed. Within a few minutes, his friends first came out.

She sat down and reviewed her physics notes until she noticed a maroon-haired boy storming over at her. She flinched, a bit intimidated by his speed. The boy screeched to a stop in front of her and crouched, staring at her face very intently.

"Are you Tezuka's friend?" He asked.

"Ah, yes. I'm Haraue Miho, nice to meet you." She stood up and greeted.

"Heh~ I'm Kikumaru Eiji! Nice to meet you!" The boy stood up as well and held out his hand which Miho took and shook.

"Eiji! I told you not to intimidate her so much!" Another boy ran over to them, huffing and puffing. He had black hair and two stands of hair sticking out like a bang.

"I'm alright, no worries." She laughed and said.

"I'm Oishi Syuuichirou, nice to meet you. I'm the fuku-buchou."

"Haraue Miho. Nice to meet you." She greeted.

"Miho." Tezuka called her after coming out of the shack, fully changed into his school uniform.

"Hey. I just met Kikumaru-san and Oishi-san." She said.

"Hey, Haraue-chan, how do you know Tezuka?" Kikumaru asked. "This guy's not the type to talk to girls randomly."

"We work together at the bookstore." She answered, laughing at Kikumaru's remark. Kikumaru and Miho ended up chatting and laughing; unable to interrupt the two as they seemed to enjoy each other's company, Tezuka just looked at her from the side with a smile which Oishi didn't fail to notice. Oishi then put on a smile as well. His friend was finally showing his inner shell.

"Alright that's enough Eiji. Sorry for interrupting if you guys had any plans." Oishi said, grabbing Kikumaru by his shirt and dragging him along. "Let's go, Eiji."

"Wah— really?!" Eiji panicked as he got dragged along.

"It's fine, really. It was nice meeting you two." Miho smiled.

"Nice meeting you!" They said as Oishi half-forcefully dragged Kikumaru away. Miho then remembered something, went through her bag, and took out the notebook that she borrowed from Tezuka.

"I almost forgot. Here you go."

"Ah, thanks for bringing it."

"I really did freak out since I thought you had the test tomorrow…" She sighed in relief. Tezuka smiled, sincerely happy that she came all the way to his school, remembering what he said about having his test that week. "By the way, I saw you play tennis. It was really cool." Her eyes sparkled as she looked up at him. Tezuka blushed a bit and looked away, thanking the setting sun for dying everything orange to cover up his blush.

"A-aah. Thanks."

"Do you guys have any tournaments coming up?" She asked as they started walking out of the school grounds.

"Yes. We have Kantou tournament coming up. And…" He trailed off. He wanted to ask her to come and watch him play when she didn't have work, but that was the day that Hyotei would be facing Seigaku in the semifinals. Setting that aside, would she even come watch him in the first place? Ah well, it wouldn't hurt to ask. "I was wondering if you'd like to come and watch… it's a week after next Wednesday."

She looked up at him. He looked nervous. It's the look he had whenever he was nervous about Miho rejecting the offer. Miho grinned. There's no way she could say no, right?

"Of course I'll go and cheer. But you have to win though." She grinned.

Tezuka smiled in relief. Now he really had to step up his game to show her him winning against Atobe.

* * *

Lunch break started in Hyotei Gakuen. Miho organized her notes for the class before, writing down important points that the teacher had said before she forgot any of them. When she was done scribbling, she closed the notebook and organized her desk. She then looked at the history test that was graded and given back that day: a ninety-seven-point-five. Although not perfect, it was enough to earn her first place in class especially considering the difficulty of the test. Tezuka's notes really helped her since everything that he highlighted as important appeared on the test.

She smiled. She should thank him again and tell him that she did well. Then a shadow appeared over her desk as a figure towered over her. She looked up; all the kids were out of class, except for the nuisance standing in front of her. She looked at him and without saying anything, just looked back down and continued organizing her desk area. He's been bothering her for almost two years now; does he not know when to give up on pointless things? And why was he here anyways?

"Oi, Haraue." He called her. "It was close this time, huh?" He said.

"What was?" She asked.

"…Next time I should be able to beat your score. Getting point-five more next time shouldn't be so hard for me." He said cockily, crossing his arms. Did he really call her out just to tell her this? This guy was so predictable, she couldn't help but laugh. She smirked a bit, letting out a small scoff. Atobe's eyebrows twitched, his ego tampered by her demeanor.

"Ah, sorry. I didn't know you were getting worked up just because you got just half a point lower than me. Good luck next time though." She said, getting up from her seat after zipping up her bag. If he knew that she was going to tell him off every single time he approached her, why did he even bother doing so?

She brushed past him and left him hanging; Atobe just stood there, his fists clenched, gritting his teeth. As she slid open the class door, she ran into Atobe's friends, including the big guy that she ran into a couple times. They all froze on spot after running into her head-on.

"H-Hi." The maroon haired said. "I-Is Atobe still in there?"

"Give him a candy to cheer him up or something." She nodded her chin towards the inside of the class then walked past them with a smirk.

"Cheeky, cheeky." The boy with a scar on his forehead whistled and said as they all traced her walking away and disappearing over the corner.

"Atobe probably got told like he always does. That guy, he never learns." The maroon haired one whispered and started snickering. They all went into the class and found Atobe, irritated as expected, walking over to his desk and organizing his textbooks. He definitely heard Miho's comment on giving him a candy to cheer him up.

"What's it now? How many points did she beat you by?" Shishido asked, poking fun at Atobe.

"Half a point." He answered, grunting a bit. They all broke out laughing. He was irritated because she beat him by half a point.

"Still, you never learn, Atobe. Why do you even bother starting an argument? You can never win against her, and you know it better than anyone." Oshitari said, grinning mischievously.

"Shut up, Oshitari."

Mukahi then quietly took something out from his pocket and held his fist in front of Atobe, nudging for Atobe to hold out his hand. Curious, Atobe held out his hand. A candy dropped on top. Atobe's veins popped right away and his face turned slightly red. Mukahi and Shishido broke out laughing, slapping their knees and clenching onto their bellies, finding the King's reaction way too hilarious.

"Man, she's so funny." Mukahi said, wiping away his tears in the corners of his eyes. "Atobe, maybe you should try to be friends with her instead of trying to pick on her all the time. She seems like a chill person."

"As if." He scoffed.

"She's really something." Oshitari said. "Not many girls can hold their heads up high like her even when being bullied by a lot of people."

* * *

After school, Miho headed to work since she asked to cover one more shift starting that week. When she arrived, the store manager greeted her.

"Oh, Miho. How was school?"

"I just got my history test back. I did really well because Kunimitsu helped me with it." She said proudly, smiling. "If it weren't for him I would've had to pull an all-nighter the night before. Although he's smart he's particularly good at history. I was surprised."

The store manager smiled after hearing that. "I'm glad you're able to rely on him. You've changed a lot after he started to work here."

Miho blinked. Did she really? She didn't give it a thought until he mentioned it. "Really?" She cocked her head to the side and asked. At that the old manager chuckled and headed into the back room, mumbling, "It's spring."

* * *

It's spring for everyone except me ;-; (goes crying in the corner for a nonexistent bae)


	6. Know Thyself

The Tyrant's Pride

Chapter 6: Know Thyself

It was during a ten-minute break in between classes for students of Seishun Gakuen. The birds chirped restlessly, lush, green leaves filled up the once barren branches, and the sky was clear and blue—a perfect day to have a picnic with someone, perhaps a loved one. Our stoic 3rd year, Tezuka Kunimitsu, was slightly in a daze, staring out the window while he leaned his head on his hand.

He was thinking back to the time when Miho had given him a surprise visit to his tennis practice to return his notebook; he remembered her face vividly and how soft her hair felt when he clipped it back in her ears, and how attractive her lips were—

'_Still… what was I thinking of doing back there?' _He sighed, thinking back to the scene when he felt himself unconsciously and mysteriously being drawn into her lips. _'You're the worst, Tezuka Kunimitsu, taking an advantage of a sleeping girl like that—'_

"Tezuka?"

"A-Ah. Sorry, Fuji." He snapped out of his innocent self-loathing and found his friend from the class next door standing next to him, smiling. "Did you need something?"

"I was wondering if you could let me borrow your world history note. This unit is pretty hard." He said.

"Of course." Tezuka took out the note and handed it to him.

"Thanks." Fuji took it and flipped open to a page—and broke out into a chuckle. Tezuka looked at him, finding it a bit weird that his friend chuckled at a set of notes for world history.

"I think this is for you." Fuji took out a post-it from the page and handed it to Tezuka. Tezuka took it, curious, and read the note.

_Thanks Kunimitsu! I hope you have a great day. _

_-Miho _

He broke out into a wide smile, a grin perhaps, after reading the note.

"Say, when are you asking her out?" Fuji asked.

"A-Ask her out?" Tezuka blurted out, his cheeks flushing in red a bit. Fuji chuckled at the very rare reaction of his stoic friend.

"Yeah. Have you thought about it? It's written all over your face that you like her a lot." He chuckled.

At Fuji's question Tezuka grew silent. He actually hasn't given much thought about it. He was perfectly fine with the way they were now; he liked feeling his heart race whenever Miho was there, he liked seeing her from afar, he liked talking to her on the phone every day, he liked waiting for the week to pass so he could get to see her, and her presence alone satisfied him. He was content. Or was he? He thought back to that time underneath the tree, when Miho was sleeping.

"I guess it's a bit of a rush. Forget I said anything, Tezuka." Fuji said. _'Although I'm pretty sure it's not a rush.'_

"No, it's fine."

That day, Tezuka kept on thinking about what Fuji had said; he thought about it as he walked and as he rode the bus to get to work. Asking her out meant officially becoming lovers. Was he up for it?

'_Well first I need to know if she likes me.' _He sighed a bit. Miho just acted nicely around him and that was pretty much it; there was no sign of her showing any romantic interest in him, even when his friends slipped hints about setting up the two as a couple. She probably considered him a good friend. He was friend-zoned, if that was the appropriate term. Still, now that he thought about it, he was always the one blushing and always the one being flustered.

'_But I can't help it… I just like her too much.'_ He sighed once again. _'I hope I could at least get a hint of her feelings, if she has any intention of us being anything above just a friend level.'_

He walked into the store, carried out his routine, and waited for Miho to come. The long awaited sound of the chime bell ringing made Tezuka look up from the book he was reading, and he found the long awaited person walking in through the store, smiling widely.

"Welcome." He jokingly said, earning a playful laugh from Miho.

"I was wondering if you had Pride and Prejudice in stock." She said, recalling their very first encounter.

"No, but I have Macbeth in my bag. It's not as delusional." He replied and Miho laughed once again. She came around the counter and sat her bag down next to him.

"You know I felt kinda bad for talking badly of Pride and Prejudice that day." She said.

"Well, it was my favorite book." Tezuka said. "I could never see it in the same light after you told me that."

"Sorry." She nervously said.

"I'm joking." He said and Miho once again broke out into a snicker.

"You know it's pretty funny seeing you tell a joke."

"I could tell a joke, if you haven't noticed."

"I noticed just now, that's why." She grinned. Tezuka smiled in defeat. She then went to greet the old manager and Tezuka watched her walk to the back room; she was right in that Tezuka became more expressive than before. He smiled more often in front of her and even told jokes that he rarely made or yet alone laugh to in front of anyone.

"Kunimitsu, tenchou said to re-stock isle Z." Miho said as she came out of the back room. The two grabbed boxes of books and went to the very back of the store, where isle Z was. Miho got up on the stepladder to reorganize the books and Tezuka stacked new books in empty spaces.

"You know, I really thought you hated me for ruining your book." She said as she took a book out and replaced with another. Tezuka turned to look, puzzled. He didn't think he did anything in particular that would make people think that he hated someone.

"What made you think that?"

"Well, you kinda stared at me from outside of the store after you left, so I thought you were thinking "this strange girl just ruined my favorite book," or something along that line…" She trailed off.

"I didn't stare at you because of that." He said. There's no way he could hate her. Not in a million years.

"Really? Why did you stare then?" She asked nonchalantly, her hands busily working. Tezuka paused and thought. Then he blushed; there's no way he could _really _tell her why he was staring.

"I was just observing your uniform trying to figure out which school it's from." He said as casually as possible, using her Hyotei uniform as his excuse.

"Oh, I see. Yeah, it seems like a lot of people know what Hyotei uniform looks like."

Tezuka let out a sigh inwardly. There's no way he could tell her that he was looking at her from outside to observe her reading, how she had long pretty hair and nice sidelines. He just might have started to fall for her that day. Then what Fuji said to him earlier in the day popped up in his head again; he glanced to his side and saw Miho just casually but surely doing her work.

'_What is the benefit of asking someone out? As long as you have the feelings, you could take things slow, no?' _Tezuka thought. Then he once again glanced at Miho, and noticed that she lost her balance while stepping down. Miho shut her eyes and braced for an impact with the floor, but the only thing she felt was a pair of arms supporting her. Tezuka had caught her falling and cradled her into his arms.

"Are you alright?" He asked, sighing in relief.

"Y-Yeah…" She looked up nervously. They were really close. Really, _really _close. Tezuka was almost on the ground with his one knee on the floor. His arms were around her waist and her legs, with her back against the inside of his other leg that was supporting her. She felt his arms and broad chest up against her body—and ended up blushing.

She got up hurriedly, trying to hide her face.

"Th-Thanks, Kunimitsu. U-Um, I need to use the bathroom." She said and hurried off to the bathroom to cool her head down. Tezuka's eyes followed her; he looked down at his hands and blushed.

Miho rushed to the bathroom and shut the door. She turned the faucet on and splashed cold water on her face; the heat didn't go away quite easily.

'_Ah, so that's why…' _Tezuka grasped onto his shirt by the chest. The uncontrollable beating of his heart can be felt even through the shirt. He thought it was enough for him to just be able to see her and be her friend, keeping his feelings a secret from her, keeping his distance, and eventually things would work out. His feelings for her flowed into his heart, one after another—and before he realized, she was already overflowing, leaking—flooding. _'I want you.'_

* * *

"…And I gave it a try, but it tasted really bad. I wonder how these kids manage to eat something that greasy." Miho spoke on the phone as she swung her legs back and forth while sitting on the bench. It was a relaxing, sunny Wednesday afternoon and Miho was currently on her lunch break, talking to Tezuka as usual. Then from far away, she saw her friend Hana walking. She pulled the phone away abit and called out her name, waving her hand—but it didn't seem like she heard her.

"Huh, I guess she didn't hear me."

"_Someone you know?"_

"Yeah, you remember Aoki Hana from last time? You know, the daughter of Aoki Corporations." She said. Tezuka stayed a bit silent on the other side. "Kunimitsu?"

"_Ah, sorry. I was just thinking. By any chance…" _He trailed off and Miho waited._ "Have you been talking to that Hana girl recently?"_

"Not as much since she and I both got busy with our own stuff but we still do talk. Why?"

"_It's nothing."_

"Why what's wrong?" She asked. It was weird that Tezuka would ask about someone else in her school.

"_No, just curious. I thought that it's rare for someone like her to go around making friends so casually." _He replied.

"That's what I thought at first. Actually, I still don't know why she talks to me either. All her friends are really rich too." Miho then heard her school bell ring. "Ah, that was the bell. Gotta go, I'll see you at the tennis park later."

"_Bye."_

Miho hung up and walked over into the main building. It was the day for Seigaku's tennis club to play against Hyotei and Miho was planning to go cheer Tezuka and the Seigaku team. After school she headed over to the tennis park located not too far away from her school.

'_Hopefully I don't run into trouble… although I can already see it happening.' _Miho thought as she sat in the bus while reading a book. She had already seen the crowd waiting for Hyotei's tennis team near the courts as she walked out of the school. She never visited any of their games but just from seeing the crowd she could already tell that there was going to be a huge crowd at the game.

Setting her concerns aside, she got off the bus and walked over to the courts that Tezuka told her to come to beforehand. She walked through the park and found a big crowd of students in brown uniforms—it was Hyotei.

'_I guess this must be the court.' _She made her way to the court and found Seigaku's team just on the other side; she spotted some of Tezuka's friends, and soon also found Tezuka who was giving out an inspirational speech of sort to his teammates. Not wanting to disturb the team before their match, Miho just sat on one of the benches at the side and waited.

"Huh? Look who we have here," she then heard a girl's voice. When she turned, one of Atobe's fangirls was standing there with two of her friends, crossing their arms and staring down at Miho. Miho let out a sigh inwardly. "So I guess even you came to watch Atobe-sama's prowess, huh? Putting up a feisty act in front of him all the time, I knew you had an ulterior motive."

'_Please.' _Miho rolled her eyes.

"Did you just roll your eyes?" The girl raised her voice. "Are you belittling Atobe-sama?"

"What's all this commotion." The last person Miho wanted to see in this match then joined in on their conversation. It was Atobe with Kabaji trailing behind him. Thank god at least he didn't have mobs of fangirls trailing behind him. "Aahn~? Well, well. You're the last person I expected to see here." Atobe smirked at Miho, thinking that even _she _couldn't resist his prowess in tennis.

"Atobe-sama, she was belittling you—"

"Shut up." He said, glaring at her; the girl looked at him in shock and soon ran away, breaking out into tears.

'_A nice way to speak to a lady.'_ Miho scoffed inside.

"Now, since the nuisance is gone," Atobe scoffed and said as he turned to look at Miho, "I'm just curious why you are here. Don't be shy, if you tell the truth I might even consider a spot in the bleachers so you can watch everything clearly."

Miho was done listening to him blabber out nonsense. She stood up and walked away to Seigaku's side, until—

"Not like expected from less from a commoner. No manners or etiquette. Don't you think it's rude to walk away without addressing someone who was kind enough to speak to you?" Atobe said, his hands now clenching onto Miho's wrist.

"I'd like it if you'd let go." She said. "Or did you learn to touch people so casually against their consent? That's some great manners you have."

Atobe frowned, but soon shook it off and smirked again.

"Miho!"

Tezuka came running over; his eyes were fixated on Atobe's hands, which were clenching onto Miho's frail wrist. Tezuka immediately frowned as he sensed that Miho was feeling rather uncomfortable, glaring at Atobe while trying to break herself free.

"Tezuka?" Atobe raised his eyebrows, surprised to find Tezuka coming after the girl, calling out her first name.

"Atobe, let her go." He said, glaring at him while holding onto Miho's arm just below Atobe's hand. It was the first time Tezuka ever looked so serious and even _angry_; Atobe soon began processing what their relationship could be. Sick of being physically in contact with the egotistical jerk in front of her, Miho finally yanked her arm off.

"It's okay, let's go Kunimitsu" She grabbed onto Tezuka's arm and turned around, trying to leave the scene.

'_Kunimitsu? Miho?' _Atobe pondered, wondering how the two were on a first-name basis.

Miho half-forcibly dragged Tezuka away from the scene, leaving Atobe behind; Atobe just stared at them as Miho held tightly onto Tezuka's arm and made their way to Seigaku's side.

"Oi, Atobe! The school newspaper editor wanted to interview you!" Shishido came running over and called him. He glared at the couple's back one last time and followed Shishido back to Hyotei's side.

Meanwhile, Tezuka was dragged back to Seigaku's side by Miho.

"Miho—"

"Just concentrate on the match for now, Kunimitsu. I'll explain everything later." She said. "I promise."

"I—" He paused. He then slowly nodded. "I trust you. But please do explain everything afterwards."

"Yeah. By the way, you still have to keep the promise." She said.

"Promise?"

"You see, I don't quite like that monkey king. And I want you to win. You promised me that you'll win, right?" She said.

"Right." He said. "I'll make sure to win."

"Good." She smiled. Tezuka then noticed that the Hyotei people as they walked by stared at Miho and whispered among themselves. He sighed and took his jacket off—and draped it over Miho's shoulders.

"Wear it. It seems like you'll run into some trouble if you stay in your school uniform." He said, tidying up the jacket in the front.

"Ah, okay. Thanks Kunimitsu." She smiled smugly. Then the referee called for players from both teams; Miho grabbed a spot in the bleachers at Seigaku's side and sat down; the regulars from both teams walked down and stood facing each other. Atobe faced Tezuka, and glanced over at the bleachers, where he spotted a certain girl from Hyotei in a Seigaku regular's jacket. He frowned and scoffed, getting irritated for reasons unknown. The two teams bowed and yelled out a greeting and walked back to their sides, getting ready for their first match.

'_Pathetic.' _Atobe spat out in his mind as he saw the girl talking casually with the other Seigaku members as well.

The match commenced, and both schools played evenly; they each gave up a doubles and a singles set, and was at 2-2; singles 1 would determine the winner of the match. Atobe stood up and walked over to the court first, receiving cheers and unified "the winner is Atobe!" from his supporters. Carrying out his usual routine before the match, he threw his jacket up in the air and snapped his finger, and yelled out, "the winner will be me!"

At that they all broke out into cheers and screams—but as he turned to look at Seigaku's side, a certain girl and his opponent was paying no attention to him or whatsoever.

"You got this Kunimitsu. Go kick his butt." She said.

"He's a good player." Tezuka replied as he grabbed his racket. "It could be hard."

"Wha—I thought you promised me that you'd win."

"Yeah, Tezuka! Win for Miho-chan!" Kikumaru yelled at the side too.

"I'll try my best." Tezuka said. Miho just smiled and held out her hand high for a high-five. Tezuka just stood there and raised his eyebrow, wondering what she was doing.

"High-five?" She asked.

"Oh." Tezuka fumbled a bit and held out his hand, and brought his palm onto hers—but she didn't leave it only at a high-five and clasped her fingers with his, locking onto his hand and squeezing it hard.

"Good luck." She smiled and said. Tezuka blushed a bit, feeling her soft, small hands locking in with his for the first time ever. He smiled nonetheless and squeezed her hand back in return.

"Thank you."

"Ooooh~!" Kikumaru and Momoshiro cooed at the side and Miho blurted out things at the two rather immature boys, her face growing a bit red.

Atobe, who was waiting rather impatiently at the net, saw the entire thing happen—from Miho in Tezuka's jacket smiling warmly at him, to his ever stoic opponent smiling at her, them locking their fingers with each other, and her in disarray from… embarrassment? It all seemed foreign to Atobe, and it certainly didn't come to him in a pleasant light.

"Che, he gives away his smiles so easily for Miho-chan. Miho-chan you should join our team so that he smiles all the time." Kikumaru clasped his hands at the back of his head and said, pouting a little. At his comment Tezuka coughed and hurried over to the net, where Atobe was waiting. The Seigaku members all snickered, having a bit too much fun in teasing their stoic captain in front of a girl he liked.

"Miho-chan, we're so glad you're here. You wanna join our team? We'll teach you how to play tennis at a rate of one smile from Tezuka per day." Kikumaru said, cooing at Tezuka's back. At that Miho broke out into a laugh, making Atobe frown a bit more.

"Your opponent is me, Atobe." Tezuka, who was now at the net, said to Atobe as he held out his hand. "I don't know what you want with her, but leave her alone."

"Aahn~? What is this, a knight in shining armor role play?" Atobe smirked as he grasped onto Tezuka's hand, squeezing it a bit too hard. At his remark Tezuka frowned; Atobe's attitude towards Miho was not the best one in the world. "Are you her lover or something?"

"Maybe." Tezuka first let his hand go and answered as he turned away to walk over to the baseline. Atobe furrowed his eyebrows at that and turned to walk over to the baseline as well. He wanted to win this more badly than any other time.

But a man is the strongest in front of a woman he loves; he played better than he has in any of his matches so far and was able to beat Atobe with a score of 6-3. Atobe just gritted his teeth after shaking his opponent's hand and coming back to the bench.

'_She made me lose again… that woman is the source of every trouble.' _He thought, clenching his fist as he saw Miho hand a towel and a water bottle to him, smiling widely.

"Atobe is getting caught up in their little feud again." Shishido said and sighed, shaking his head a bit.

"He should learn to be more honest with himself." Oshitari said and smiled.

Meanwhile, Seigaku's team was celebrating their victory against Hyotei; they would be proceeding into the final round of the kantou tournament, but they were automatically granted a ticket to National Tournament as well.

They gathered their belongings and left the courts; Tezuka asked her to wait near the park entrance until his team meeting was done so that they could go home together. Miho walked over to the entrance that was not too far away and waited. Soon, she spotted the Seigaku regulars all walking out.

"Oh~ Miho-chan! Tezuka's talking to the coach a bit, so he'll come soon."

"Ah, okay. Thanks."

"Then, see you later!" They all waved at her and she waved back, smiling.

"Who is this? A traitor that cheered for Atobe-sama's opponent?" Then she heard a girl's voice from behind; she rolled her eyes in annoyance. She didn't even bother turning around but they just had to make their way around her, standing in front of her.

"So, how does it feel like to be a successful traitor?"

"I wasn't very loyal to Hyotei from the start, so a traitor wouldn't be an appropriate term. The most appropriate term would be a common enemy, if you insist on calling other schools your enemies." Miho said boringly, a bit unamused by their stupidity and lack of discernment for vocabulary. "And please don't go around picking students from other people. It's embarrassing."

"You… you've been learning how to run your mouth quite a lot these days, huh?" The girl said as she gritted her teeth.

"No, I always knew how to." Miho replied.

"Just who do you think you are?"

"Lao Tzu said "one who knows oneself is enlightened," and I don't think I'm enlightened yet, so I don't know." Miho was getting tired from the pointless arguments. She'd prefer them giving her a shove or a slap instead so that she didn't have to waste her brainpower on something as useless as this. Then with a nice fleshy sound she felt her cheeks burn. The girl stood there with her arm hanging, breathing heavily from anger.

'_It's funny how you can get mad for something so trivial.' _Miho smirked.

"What are you laughing at?!" The girl raised her arm once again, only to be stopped by Tezuka, who stopped the girl's hand by grabbing onto it before it struck down on Miho. He glared at the girl.

"It's unsightly to see a lady using violence so recklessly." He said and let her arm go. "Please leave."

Tezuka then immediately went over to Miho and cupped her cheeks, examining her face.

"Are you alright?!" He asked, gently rubbing her reddened cheek with his thumb.

"I'm fine." Miho smiled smugly.

"Why didn't you try to fight back?!" He then grasped her by her shoulders and said. His grip was tight and his eyebrows were furrowed; he was angry.

"It's okay, Kunimitsu." Miho tried to calm him down.

"What's going on here."

Then Atobe approached them; his fangirls immediately ran up to him and started complaining.

'_Why does he always end up in front of me in situations like this? How annoying.' _Miho frowned.

"We were just teaching her a lesson!"

"And he just suddenly came out of nowhere, and—"

"Shut up, all of you." Atobe glared at the girls; shocked by getting turned down harshly by their idol, the girls teared up and walked away. Their reactions after being told off by the King were all the same, after all.

"Atobe. Just how in the world are you managing your friends?" Tezuka glared at him.

"Aahn~? Friends? This Ore-sama doesn't have friends as annoying as those. They just follow me around and I pay no attention to them. And plus," Atobe said, looking at Miho and smiling condescendingly, "it's partly someone else's fault for taunting them in the first place."

"Atobe—"

"Kunimitsu, let's go." Miho grabbed his hand and said. "There's no use in trying to reason with him."

Atobe frowned at that. No use in reasoning? Did she think he was dumb or something?

"But—"

Miho pulled strongly on his hand, half-forcing Tezuka to come along with her. Tezuka glared at Atobe one last time and walked away with Miho's hand in his, checking her face again to examine the reddened cheeks. Atobe's eyes were glued to their point of contact; his hand was big enough to completely cover hers. Once again, she succeeded in arousing his anger for no reasons in particular.


	7. Confession

The Tyrant's Pride

Chapter 7: Confession

To be honest, I'm not the type to meddle in others' affairs, especially concerning their "romantic" or "intimate" relationships. But this guy—this seemingly perfect but in actuality a naïve, immature _king_—was crossing his boundaries because of his ignorance for his own feelings, to a point I almost felt the need to be the one to knock him to his senses. I found it amusing during the first year of high school and it became evident during the second year going towards the third. He liked her.

He was a great tennis player, a great scholar, and a loyal friend. Sure, people think he's just a pompous, rich brat—but there's certainly more qualities to him that you can see only once you break the shell around this sheltered kid.

My friendship with him goes way back, beginning the first year of middle school; I had come from Osaka and had held certain prejudices against Tokyo kids. And that's when I met Atobe Keigo and played a match. And a perfect loss followed right after. We silently agree to our mutual respect, rivalry and friendship, and it's already been almost six years' of time in which I called him my friend.

The reason why his face is as wrinkled as a crumpled piece of paper was because of everything that happened in the span of a day. It's hopeless at this rate, however; no matter how much I hint it and let things slip out of my mouth, everyone around but him caught onto it.

"Atobe, why are you so grumpy?" Mukahi asked; the tennis team was now sitting inside the bus, heading back home after a bitter loss in the semi-finals.

Atobe, despite having heard his friend's question, merely let it in one ear and out the other, and kept on glaring outside the window—or more like himself that was in the reflection. The flashback to just a couple hours ago crossed his mind; he gritted his upon exiting the bus, Atobe headed over to the student council room with Kabaji and Oshitari tagging behind him.

He pulled out his phone and dialed a number; only after two rings the person picked up.

"_Keigo~ you played so well today! I'm sorry that you guys lost." _A sweet girl's voice said on the other side.

"We'll begin." Atobe said, completely ignoring the girl's greeting.

"_Oh~? Did today's turnout of events get to your nerves?" _

Atobe frowned. "In three days," he said, "we'll begin in three days." Atobe hung up and threw the phone onto the couch carelessly. Oshitari, who eavesdropped on the conversation, frowned as well.

"Atobe," Oshitari said. "This isn't going to get you anywhere."

At that, Atobe let out a scoff. "Don't worry," he said. "It'll go somewhere."

"Atobe, you're just mad." Oshitari said. "You're just mad that Haraue was with Tezuka."

"Mad?" He perked up his brows. "Don't be ridiculous."

"Atobe, stop being stubborn." Oshitari stared directly into his eyes and said. "You like Haraue, and you're just angry that she was with Tezuka."

Atobe stared at him with slightly widened eyes. Then he broke out into a maniacal laughter. "That was a pretty good joke."

"Atobe—"

"I'll deal with her myself. You stay out of it, like you always do."

"…" Oshitari sighed. It was true that he never meddled in others' affairs and Atobe was well aware. "I warned you, Atobe. Don't let her hate you any more than she does now, or else you're going to regret it later."

"Hn. Let's go, Kabaji."

* * *

The bell rang throughout the buildings of Seishun Gakuen. Soon the excited chatters of students filled the hallways that were dead silent just a moment ago. They all walked out with anticipation and excitement of how they were going to spend their Friday afternoons after a long week of school. For Tezuka, the routine for his Friday afternoons was working at a bookstore with a girl whom he loved spending his time with. He grabbed his school bag and headed out of the classroom.

He got on the bus and headed to the busy part of downtown Tokyo. Like always he headed over to the bookstore, greeted the manager, and sat down behind the counter after tidying up things. It was 3:12; he just had to wait about twenty more minutes for her to come.

The clock ticked continuously but the minute hand seemed to move a bit too sluggishly for Tezuka.

"_Tell me what happened. Everything." Tezuka said, tightening his grasp around Miho's hand. He could tell that she was tired and that she perhaps didn't want to talk about it after everything that had happened that day. _

"_It's…" Miho sighed, unable to continue on. "Sorry, Kunimitsu. I just don't want to talk about it today. I'll tell you after work, I promise."_

"…_Alright. Don't push yourself too much." _

It was 3:52 and Miho still had not shown up. Worried, Tezuka pulled out his cellphone and dialed her number; her phone was off. Then he became anxious. What if she got caught up being bullied badly? What if she got in an accident? While he restlessly tapped his fingers, the store manager came out of the back room and called him.

"Kunimitsu."

"Yes, tenchou."

"I forgot to tell you, but Miho is going to be a bit late today." He said, looking a bit sad.

"Is she alright?" Tezuka got out of his chair asked urgently. "She hasn't been picking up any of the calls, and we ran into some trouble earlier in the week…"

'_Maybe it's alright to entrust Miho to him.' _Yoshimoto thought carefully, noticing the boy clearly worried to death about her. "Kunimitsu."

Tezuka gulped. The manager's face seemed more solemn than the usual. He was nervous. He hoped to all deities that whatever news regarding Miho Yoshimoto had for him wasn't a bad one.

"Kunimitsu, sit down for a moment. It's about Miho." Yoshimoto said, sitting down on the chair. Tezuka reluctantly sat back down, looking at the manager intently.

"Today is the anniversary of her parents' passing."

* * *

Sometimes I blame the world for everything; but I cut myself off even before I start the trail of thought because blaming is no useful tool in my life. I don't have the luxury to play the flashback-to-that-time game and get sentimental either. Henry David Thoreau once said "Never look back unless you are planning to go that way;" Going back to that is the last thing I have on my mind. I must pick myself up again and continue the solitary trek.

Miho carefully placed a bouquet of flowers. After standing there and staring at the lonely, barren grave for a bit, she turned around and headed back.

* * *

Tezuka felt like a boulder landed on his heart and couldn't think properly. Passing? Miho's parents? So she was all alone? Since when? Why did they pass away?

"I believe… since she's 18 now… it'd be the 5th anniversary." Yoshimoto took off his glasses and said, rubbing the bridge of his nose. He sighed and set down his glasses on the counter. "I knew Miho's parents even before Miho was born. When I used to work at a publishing company, they worked under me. Her mother was an editor, and her father a project director. They met through work and ended up marrying. They were very nice people. Caring, compassionate…"

Tezuka listened carefully. It seemed like there was much more to Miho's life than he ever imagined.

"Miho changed drastically after her parents passed away. Before she was very lively, active, and loud to a point that you'd never imagine she was like that by the way she is now. I won't go into much detail since they're Miho's personal matters, but if it's you, I'm sure she would talk about her life up until now. It always hurts me seeing a teenage girl, who should be blooming like a flower, always under pressure of getting through the day and keeping herself barely standing in this cruel world. I wanted to take her in with my family, but she hates being empathized more than anything else and bowing her head down to others. She never once accepted a raise; she thinks it's wrong for her to be given freebies.

"I know that she's having troubles at school, but she never once said a word about it. I'm sure she's handling it well but all she's doing is building up everything inside her. A kid could come crying to adults once in a while and be pampered time to time, but never did she express her distress to anyone for the last five years. Not even me. She's tough, but sometimes even the strongest tree can falter from a perpetual storm. She has nothing at her back and has the entire world against her. She grew up too fast, Kunimitsu. You are a mature one, but she grew up too fast, too young." He sighed.

Tezuka just stayed silent with a shocked face.

"Kunimitsu." The old man called him once again. "You like Miho, don't you?"

"I do." With determination he nodded. There was no hesitation in his eyes.

"I can see that it's not just a temporary attraction a boy has for a girl; it's sincere love that a true man has for a woman. I'm getting old, Kunimitsu. One day, I'll have to leave her… I hope you can look after her. Be by her side. I have never once seen her keep such close relationship with anyone else before."

Tezuka gulped; this was a serious favor coming from the old man. "I will." He replied.

The old man smiled, satisfied by Tezuka's conviction. Then, the chime rang and the subject of their conversation walked in.

"Good afternoon, sorry I was late!" She came in smiling.

"Oh, welcome back Miho." Yoshimoto greeted with a fatherly smile. Then he looked out the window, letting out a sigh of relief. "My, what a wonderful weather outside. Perfect weather for a day out on Friday, don't you think?"

The two looked at him with puzzled expressions.

"Something came up and I'll have to close down the store early today, so you two are free to go." Yoshimoto said, getting out of his chair. "Go eat something delicious and enjoy your Friday off. It doesn't come very often." He chuckled.

"Closing now?" Miho cocked her head.

"Yes. Kunimitsu, do you have your bags?"

"Y-Yes." Kunimitsu got his bag ready.

"Alright then, let's go. I have plans I made too." The manager gently pushed on the two teenagers' backs and exited the store, turning the sign as "closed" and locking the door. "I will see you two tomorrow, then."

"T-Thank you, tenchou. Good bye." The two bowed and Yoshimoto walked away with his hands behind his back. Miho and Tezuka stood there silently, a bit confused and a bit at a loss of what had just happened.

"Well, since we got our break, let's go hang out! I feel like taking a nice day off today. And I promised I'd tell you everything too." She said, first breaking the silence.

"Sure."

Miho started walking off, humming a bit. Tezuka's eyes chased her—the girl who looked more frail and smaller than ever in his eyes, acting like nothing had happened—in fact, acting even cheery than usual—even though in reality there were weights on her shoulders and shackles to her feet and hands. She turned around and yelled at him to hurry up. He reluctantly took steps forward, questioning himself if he could be of strength to the girl he adored the most, who he also came to admire the most.

After listening to Yoshimoto's story, Tezuka started noticing small things, starting from her always choosing the cheapest dish, picking up clothes that she couldn't take her eyes off of but only to put it back down, studying whenever she had free time to make sure she could never be passed by anyone else in her school. He found it admiring but it also made his chest tight. It throbbed and ached, it gave him an invisible clump inside his throat, the one which he couldn't swallow nor spit out.

After spending the entire Friday afternoon with her, Tezuka was now walking next to Miho in the park. He stayed quiet and kept on thinking about everything Yoshimoto had told him about Miho.

'_I want her to share the pain. I want her to trust me.'_

He slowed down as he became more and more determined. He finally came to a stop. Noticing that he wasn't walking next to her, Miho turned around and found Tezuka standing still, looking at her with a face of mixed emotions.

"Kunimitsu? You okay?" She walked over and stood in front of him, looking at him with a worried expression. "You've been unusually quiet today. Is something wrong?"

"Miho." He began. "I heard from tenchou. About Atobe… and your parents."

Miho's eyes widened a bit. She then smiled, except it seemed sad to him.

"If it's okay with you, I want to know more about you. Please tell me about yourself." He said. Miho's gaze wandered at their feet. She then looked up. Tezuka's unwavering eyes were enough to convince Miho that _'if it's him, then I can trust.'_

"My mother was an editor and my father was a project director. They worked in the same company and they eventually got married and had me." She began, maintaining her calm, collective self. "The bookstore we work at now is a very special place for me. My parents used to always take me there since it was the closest bookstore to our house. It was my mother's favorite place to buy books, so I naturally ended up going there more and more. I visited there with her at least three, four times a week."

Tezuka carefully listened.

"My family… we weren't poor, but we weren't exactly prosperous either. But it was fine. It was enough to keep the family together. We were satisfied with our lives. But during the 1st year of middle school, my parents' company ended up in a huge debt, so my father borrowed money from here and there to keep the company from closing down… despite his efforts the company fell apart and my parents themselves had debts on their shoulders as well.

"Although we moved to a smaller house and sold off all our assets, it wasn't enough to pay back everything. Debt collectors showed up every day… made our house a mess… and in the end, when I was out walking with my parents, a car with men in suits came over and hit them. That was it for my parents."

Tezuka's eyes widened. Someone purposely killed her parents?

"Later I figured out why they had to get in a car accident. It seemed like the insurances for hit-and-run paid off the most. For two people, it was enough to pay for the debt. It was their plan. Those bastards took the money and left me with the small house I live in right now and a meager amount of money. But I can't use that. It's the money they got in exchange for my parents' lives."

She smiled bitterly.

"So since then I started living alone in that same house. I supported myself by working at the bookstore and occasionally winning prize money from academic competitions. Before everything happened I wasn't exactly the studious type. But the turnout of events got me to work hard because that was the only way I could survive as an adult. So I studied and studied… got into Hyotei with full scholarship…

"Like you've seen, I'm not that welcomed in Hyotei. They have inferiority complexes and complaints regarding me and how my academic performances excel them. That turns into jealousy, then hate, then bullying. They know they can't outwit me so they resort to violence. To be honest, it's not that big of a deal on my side; I expected it and I just need to endure for another half a year and I'll never have to see their faces again. But Atobe—he's different. He never tormented me in any physical ways. He just stands at the side, throws nasty words, say things that he obviously means to hurt my feelings."

"How could he…!"

"He's always had a sense of inferiority since the first year of high school. I can kinda understand why he's so eager to hurt me… no matter how hard he seemed to try, he's never gotten first place in high school because of me, you see." She said as she snickered. "But everything that happened doesn't really matter. I'm just here, doing what I can do in my shoes. I'm okay."

Silence prevailed. All that filled the soundscape was the running water, birds chirping and occasional rustles of the plants. The dim moonlight shining down through spotty black clouds in the sky barely lit their faces in the dark.

Tezuka gave her a sad, painful look.

"Don't give me that look, I'm fine." She laughed.

"You're lying. There's no way you could be fine." He said. "Miho, it's okay to let it all out time to time."

"I'm really fine, though." She replied but her voice wavered.

"You have a shoulder to cry on. You're not alone anymore."

Miho bit her lips. Then teardrops started brimming around her eyes, and single drop rolled down. She quickly wiped it, laughing in embarrassment. Tezuka then grabbed her hand, stopping her from forcefully wiping out the tear.

"It's okay."

"But—"

"You've done great so far." He said and smiled reassuringly.

Miho finally let out all the sorrows she shoved and locked away in her tiny heart for the last five years. Her tears started rolling down even faster and she tried her best in holding back her sobs. Tezuka stepped closer to her and pulled her into his arms, trapping her tiny body away from the rest of the world. Feeling even safer and assured in his arms, Miho finally broke out sobbing and cried her heart out.

She cried for good ten minutes and Tezuka just stood there, rubbing her back and tightening his arms around her body. She finally brought herself apart from Tezuka but Tezuka still had his arms around her.

"S-Sorry, I got your shirt all wet."

"Don't worry about it." He said.

"…Thanks Kunimitsu." She sighed. "I feel a lot better now."

"I'm glad to hear that."

"And… U-Um… " She said nervously. "I'm okay now, you can let me go."

Tezuka looked down at the girl and answered. "No."

"Huh?" Miho looked up a bit confused.

"At first, being a friend was more than enough for me." He said, meeting his eyes with hers. "But now I want more. I want you to depend on me and share your pain. I want you to come to me when you're having a hard time, just like today. So please let me be by your side"

"Kunimitsu—"

"Miho. I like you."


	8. Tyranny

The Tyrant's Pride

Chapter 8: Tyranny

Miho stared into Tezuka's hazel eyes after he broke apart from the embrace. She knew—his normally stoic, firm eyes were filled with tension and nervousness; his fingertips, although very faintly, were shaking as well. Her heart reacted in almost an instant, skipping a few beats, but her brain couldn't quite settle on it.

'_Why is he asking me now all of a sudden? When I'm at my weakest?' _Miho thought. As much as she liked him back, she couldn't elucidate the reason behind the timing of his confession. _'Does he think that confessing to me at my vulnerable state would succeed? No… Kunimitsu's not that cunning. But…' _

She averted her eyes, breaking away from the eye contact which undoubtedly made Tezuka's heart sink to the deepest core.

"I'm sorry." Tezuka apologized, letting her go. "I'm aware that I picked an inappropriate and cowardly approach."

"Ah, Kuni—"

"I made a terrible mistake. Please forgive me." He bowed and Miho was taken aback—but soon realized that her quick decision about him just a minute ago was wrong. He could never be cunning enough to do this. "I shouldn't take advantage of this situation right now. Knowing you, accepting it would only bring down your morals and pride. I understand."

Miho again averted her eyes. "…I'm sorry."

"No," Tezuka gently held the tip of her fingers and said, "I'll ask you again some other time. So please consider then—although I'm sure you'll say yes."

At his claim Miho felt the blood rush to her cheeks. His confident words and gentle gesture gave her the reassurance and made her heart flutter.

"Sorry for making this hard, Kunimitsu. I just… I just need some time to think."

"No, don't be. We certainly made some progress from this. The two of us."

* * *

Atobe came back from school after parting ways with the tennis team. He felt bitter. The only bitter event was the loss… but why did he feel such a lot more than he should? Kabaji had gone to his own room as well, and Atobe frustratingly threw himself onto the reclining chair, crossing and resting his legs on top of the leg rest.

He began rewinding back to a couple hours ago. Tezuka was strong. Stronger than he had ever been. And it was undoubtedly due to that girl—who never once showed anything except an annoyed or stoic expression at school, laughing as bright as a ray of sunshine when with that guy—

'_Shit.' _Atobe gritted his teeth. He held up his hand, stared into it—and clenched it into a fist. He denied himself, but he couldn't help from replaying the image in his head: the image of her hands joined with that guy's.

Then as if to add more to his annoyance, his cellphone rang. After checking the caller he picked up rather angrily—

"_It's ready." _

The voice came from the other side even before Atobe greeted. He paused—and a grin formed on his lips.

* * *

Sunday morning, Tezuka met up with Miho at the bus station before work to walk to the bookstore together. They walked alongside and chatted casually—until Miho's expression darkened as her steps slowed down. Tezuka, whose eyes were glued to Miho the entire time, directed his attention to where she was looking—and found men in black suits crowding in front of the bookstore with boxes and books all over the ground. Miho's face turned blue and she hurriedly ran over with Tezuka trailing behind her.

"Tenchou!" Miho gasped for breath and yelled out in hope to get in touch with the old manager. She tried to make her way through the door, pushing past the men dressed in black.

"Hey, you can't go in—"

"Let me go!" Miho hissed and made her way into the store with Tezuka and found the old manager sitting down with a grim face. "T-Tenchou! What's going on here?! Who are all these people?"

"Miho…" The manager couldn't continue.

"Drag them out!"

With an order, the men in black came in and dragged the three out.

"On what grounds are you doing this?!" Miho shouted at the men who were carrying the books out of the store. "Stop! Put those back!"

"Miss, this bookstore is now legally our property." One of the men said. "Please stay out of the way if you don't wish to get hurt—"

"Hurt my goddamn ass! Stop doing this and bring a paperwork showing proof or else I'm calling the police!"

"Ah, ah, ah. I don't think so." More men dressed in black came over—and behind them was Kabaji that guy—the king, the tyrant, the _monster_, with an expression more serene and full of interest than ever.

"Atobe…?"

"You want proof? Here." Atobe walked over to her and held out a piece of paper. Miho snatched it and read—the building was now Atobe Corporation's—to be exact, Atobe Keigo's property.

"What is this…!"

"I thought you'd be smart enough to read a legal paper. Or do you need me to reiterate for you? It's as it says. This building's now mine. And as a landlord I'm terminating the contract; oh, don't worry. We'll pay the termination fee, ask as much as you'd like."

At that, the old manager who was listening beside Miho, wobbled and sank to the ground; Tezuka quickly caught him, only to find him unconscious.

"Tenchou!" Miho gasped while Tezuka quickly took out his phone to call the ambulance.

"Tenchou? Tenchou!" Miho cried out. Tears began forming around her eyes as her hands busily wandered, searching to do something—only to leave hanging, having nowhere to go.

"Miho, let's get him to rest on the sofa inside." Tezuka stood up, carrying Yoshimoto behind his back. "You'll let us use the couch inside at least, no?" Tezuka glared at Atobe, who seemed just as taken aback by the turnout of the incident. With no answer from him, Tezuka pushed his way into the store with Miho behind. Tezuka laid him down on one of the sofas in front of the store and loosened his top buttons. Miho sat next to him, sniffling and her hands tightly holding onto the old man's.

"Miho, it'll be alright. He's still breathing. The ambulance is coming soon." Tezuka said, wiping the tears off of her cheeks, holding her close to his chest.

Atobe observed everything through the glass window—and crumpled the paper in his hand.

Thankfully the ambulance came quick; Miho and Tezuka made a quick trip to the hospital nearby to ensure his safety, contacted his family, and made their way back to the bookstore—to confront Atobe.

"Oh, there she is." Atobe said slyly. By the time they were back, all the books were moved out and one of the men put a heavy chain around the handles of the front door.

"Explain yourself!" Miho yelled angrily. "Why!? Why all of a sudden!?"

"It's not all of a sudden. I can't believe you expected me to sit still after all that humiliation you gave me."

"Humiliation!?" Miho's anger was now at peak. "Are you a kid? All I did was doing what I could do as a student. And you—have no right to call my efforts a tool to humiliate someone."

"Well… that really depends on what _I _feel like, no? As much as you might think you're innocent, I do have to say I've been quite uneasy and bothered by your… words."

Miho scoffed, unable to believe the nonsense that was spewing out of his mouth. "And you think _your _words haven't?"

"Oh, so they have?"

"And you—you're the reason why everyone bullies me."

"I have done nothing, except stating the facts."

Miho clenched her fists in anger.

"Atobe—" Tezuka stepped into the conversation. "You only look like a child venting out his frustrations. Please stop his nonsense and tell your men to put the books back."

Atobe's brows twitched at Tezuka's statement. He crossed his arms and smirked. "And what if I refuse? In case you forgot, I make the ultimate decision."

Miho and Tezuka's mouth closed shut at that. It was true—no matter what they did, in front of legal powers, he had the upper hand.

"I honestly don't believe why you're doing this—all for a stupid, petty vengeance—going out of your way to buy out a small bookstore."

"From what I know, this bookstore's very dear to you, no?" Atobe said. "Your mother and father have seemed to make a lot of businesses at this place."

"How do you…!"

"Because I know!" A new voice joined in on the conversation. A girl made her appearance from behind Atobe's men—it was Aoki Hana.

"Hana…?"

Hana smiled brightly and innocently, and clung onto Atobe's arms.

"Sorry, Miho. I just had to. Oh, and this is a surprise!" Hana said, turning to Atobe. "Keigo, I wanted to surprise you!"

"What." Atobe looked down, a bit irritated and annoyed.

"I bought out the land where Miho's parents are buried too! They're all yours now, do whatever you want with them."

"You what!?" Miho shouted. Her head spun for a moment and she felt lightheaded. She stumbled a bit backwards, only to have Tezuka catch her from the back.

"Oi, Aoki." Atobe frowned, his expression turning dark. "Why on earth did you do that. I told you to do only what I told you."

"But it's more fun this way! And plus, I want to see that commoner suffer a bit more." Hana smiled.

"Hana…! Just why on earth…!" Miho trailed off, unable to finish her sentence due to shock of betrayal.

"Well, what can I say…? You were just plain annoying. Being a commoner and all. Always getting first place. Getting Keigo's attention all the time. Commoners like you should know your place. Right, Keigo?"

He couldn't speak. From how he'd been acting and saying in the past, he _had _to side with Hana. That's just what he's been saying all the time. But something clogged his throat, making him unable to say anything.

"Keigo, don't back out now. What are you getting all scared for? What's she going to do to you?" Hana whispered to him, pouting a bit.

'_Yeah… what's she got that could hurt me? I'm the King and she's just a commoner at my mercy.' _Atobe convinced himself. His pride as the King and Number One could never once be breached again. "I'll make an exception." Atobe said, smirking.

"Kneel."

Miho's eyes widened. He wanted her to what?

"Atobe!" Tezuka raised his voice in anger.

"Tezuka, this is the only chance she'll get. Stay out unless you want to see both of her precious possessions disappear into thin air." Atobe said. Oh, how he yearned for this moment—to have her groveling and begging at his feet, in his complete mercy, powerless and spiritless—just how the commoners should be. Yeah, just how they should be. Miho just stared at him, the brutal monster, the cruelest tyrant. Her smart head couldn't process why he was taking such drastic measures when he only held a grudge against her for always underperforming. She thought he'd have enough just seeing her being bullied all the time like he did in the past two years.

"Oi. Did you hear me?" Atobe said once again. "If you kneel and sincerely ask me to return them to you, maybe they'll be yours again."

"Wait, Keigo—" Hana then stopped him.

"Shut up for a second." Atobe shut her out and continued. "Like I said, this is the only chance. What will you do? You're smart. Make a wise choice."

Miho's head hung low; she then cracked a bitter grin and chuckled. "So this is what you wanted."

Miho slowly lowered to the ground.

"Miho—"

"Tezuka. You stay where you are." Atobe warned; at that Tezuka couldn't do anything. After all, Atobe was the ultimate arbitrator.

Miho's one knee met the ground, and soon followed the other. Her head still hung low and her hands rested carelessly on her sides.

"…Please return them." She said, her voice trembling.

"What~? I can't hear you~!" Hana said. Atobe just watched in awe at the frail girl in front of him. Although he achieved his goal, why did he feel like his heart was being stabbed by thousands of nails?

"Please return them…!" She managed to let out more loudly. Then—Atobe saw something walk past him in the peripheral vision.

It was Kabaji.

Kabaji walked over to Miho and slowly helped her up. Miho looked up at this strange but familiar boy in awe as she rose to her feet.

"…I'm sorry." He said and then turned to Atobe. "Atobe-san. Please stop this."

Atobe stared in shock. His friend whom he's been with for more than half of his lifetime, who always stood by his side no matter what, was now opposing him.

"Kabaji…! Are you betraying me?!"

"Atobe-san. Please look back at what you've done." Kabaji said, his eyes scanning some shattered glass, ripped cardboard boxes, and books helplessly lying around on the ground. "Please stop while you can."

"Oi… Kabaji…"

"This kind of Atobe-san is not the one I respect."

That struck Atobe. Then he looked at Miho's knees—they were bleeding from the glass shards that were on the ground. That was the first time Atobe ever directly caused Miho to be physically hurt. The redness oozing down her knees pierced his heart. Then he looked at Miho's face and got a glimpse of her set of eyes. They were dull. Lifeless. And he had caused it.

"Ah…"

Atobe's slanted eyebrows leveled down and his mouth slowly gaped open. He then looked at the crumpled paper in his hand.

"So that's how it was…" He mumbled, his eyes unfocused and staring into the ground. His eyes then rested on her—and him, who had rushed over with a handkerchief to wipe the blood off of her pale knees.

"I can't take this anymore." Miho looked up at Tezuka, burying her face into his chest. "Please, take me somewhere else…!"

"Leave this to me. Please take her where she can feel safe." Kabaji said.

"Thank you, Kabaji." Tezuka said and the two slowly made their way away from the scene.

Atobe's eyes could only trail their backs—how she fit right into his arms and how well his arms wrapped around her body.

* * *

I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

Sorry for going MIA for so long, work and school eats away my time before I even realize. I'll upload **Of Tennis and Ice Prince **rreeeeeaaaally soon, so please have patience with me!

Always, thanks a lot for encouraging reviews, I wouldn't have come this far without them. I only write just to have fun and I tend to fantasize a lot of things, but it really surprises me that other people like what I write and it's just so awesome, I really can't stop writing. So thanks for putting up with me and I appreciate all the feedback I get, in whatever form they are.

With love,

ScherzoVivace.


	9. Juvenile, Still

Tyrant's Pride

Chapter 9: Juvenile, Still

"Hm~?" Oshitari was strolling through the streets, trying to shop for some tennis gears. "Huh, isn't that Haraue…? And Tezuka?" He spotted the two familiar faces walking down the streets across from where he was—and realized that the girl, who normally strode with confidence and charm, had been hurt both physically and seemingly mentally. He scanned the area, and a few feet down, saw what looked like shattered glass, ransacked store, few men in black, and… Atobe and Kabaji? He hurried his footsteps towards the spot of commotion, and realized that it was indeed the duo.

"O-Oi… Atobe, don't tell me you…" Oshitari then started putting the pieces together. Although Oshitari called out his name, Atobe just stared at Kabaji, who was standing where Miho had fallen.

Kabaji stood still, looking at his old friend with his signature blank look. However, Atobe had spent long enough time with him to notice subtle changes in his friends' facial expressions. His eyebrows furrowed inwards a little bit more, his jaws tightened a little more, and his eyes were looking directly at his. He was angry. Hana was idling next to him to spectate the silent interaction between the two.

"What exactly happened here...?" Oshitari asked.

"Well, first we completely trashed the bookstore Haraue was working at for years! The store manager kinda collapsed, but he's okay so no worries. We also secured her parents' graves! Her reaction was funny. Then Atobe-sama made her kneel! And she actually did." Hana said, all while giggling.

"You WHAT!?" Oshitari yelled, completely and utterly shocked upon hearing the atrocities his friend caused upon a girl. "Atobe, that is just low. Not even the lowest scumbag would resort to this!"

"Haraue-san is a kind person. I may not be as smart as you, but I know for the fact that you don't treat kind people badly. Even a kindergartener knows this." Kabaji spoke slowly but clearly. Atobe just stared back at him. It was the first time Kabaji has ever spoken against him.

"Come on~ it's all because that bitch Haraue was a—"

"You shut the fuck up." Atobe snarled at her. Intimidated and shocked, Hana's eyes started brimming with tears, and soon she stormed off, stomping her legs.

"Atobe-san. You need to admit now. You like her. But the methods of expressing interest have gone too far."

"Ha…"

"Children tend to throw tantrums and pick on people they like. But you're not a child, Atobe-san. She isn't. And you're too grown up to get away with these kinds of things without permanently hurting someone you like." Then, Kabaji turned around, facing his back towards Atobe. It was the first time seeing Kabaji's back turned on himself.

"Water that has been spilled can't be unspilled. But you can at least clean up. I know you have the ability to look back and give a second thought about your actions."

With that, Kabaji walked away.

"I've never seen Kabaji speak against you. But this time, no matter what you might think, he's right in every way. You've gone mad." Oshitari said as well, glaring at him. "I never interfered with anything you did, Atobe. But this time is the one time I regret not interfering."

"I… I never…"

"Atobe, snap out. Admit that you like her, stop being a goddamn kid."

"…" Atobe clenched his teeth, biting his lips. "…I know."

Oshitari continued to glare at Atobe. He was angry at Atobe for the first time ever.

"I know you're angry and jealous that Haraue and Tezuka are growing closer. If you really wanted to make progress with Haraue—no, scratch that. It's something you must do, as a person. I suggest you first apologize and return everything you took away from her, whatever it was you took. If you have to kneel, then kneel. Just don't expect her to forgive you. Don't expect me to talk to you until you've done everything you can to apologize to her."

Oshitari spun on his feet and stormed off. Atobe was now all alone in the middle of the street, with his men in black and glass shatters under his feet.

* * *

Tezuka managed to somehow support Miho back home. She, of course, did not say a single word or even look up at him. Tezuka wanted to check her face since she hung her head so low, but he didn't want to make her feel more uncomfortable than she is now. He, instead of putting into words, conveyed his sincere feelings for Miho by tightening his arms around her frail shoulders, pulling her close to better support her on a walk home that felt abnormally long. When they finally reached the front door of her tiny complex, Miho slowly took out her keys and tried to fit it in the keyhole, only to miss it one attempt after another. Unable to watch, Tezuka gently took the key out of her hands and opened the door, guiding her inside.

"I… I need to take a shower." Miho said, and dragged her feet into the bathroom.

"I'll wait, go ahead." Tezuka said, although he was sure that Miho couldn't quite listen. When the door closed, Tezuka began looking around. The place was small, but cozy. It was a place Miho called home. He checked the clock—it was 3:30, way past lunch. And they both had not eaten. He checked the fridge to see if she had anything to eat: a carton of milk, some fruits, and some leftover sandwich from the convenience store. Totally not something that Tezuka would feed to a girl he likes. He ran to the porridge shop which was conveniently down half a block, bought food as fast as possible so that he doesn't leave Miho alone in the house, and dashed back to her place. He walked in and she was just getting out of the bathroom. Then he noticed that her knees were still bleeding.

"Miho, let's take another look at your knees. It's starting to bleed through." Tezuka said with a concerned look. He sat her down on a dining stool next to the counter, knelt down in front of her, and started tending to her cuts. He still didn't look at her face—partly out of respect for Miho, who hated being seen with her guards down, and partly due to himself; he thought he would fall apart upon seeing her face as well. Although he managed to stop the bleeding before, he still had smaller glass shards to remove and areas to disinfect. "Sorry, it's going to sting a little." He said as he removed little pieces with a tweezer, tapping around the area with a disinfectant. Although it should have stung, Miho made no reaction to the pain or whatsoever.

Tezuka then finally looked up at her to see if she was frowning from pain. Contrary to what she should've been feeling, her facial expression was blank. Her eyes had lost the confident, intelligent gleam she always had, the eyes in which Tezuka fell for over and over again.

"I wonder…" Miho finally spoke. Tezuka's hands froze for a moment, but soon continued to move. It was as if they had a silent agreement that one would speak, and the other one would listen, but pretend not to. "I wonder if Atobe's ever had to worry about paying electricity or water bills."

She then scoffed, cracking a bitter smile.

"But then again, he probably doesn't even know what those are. Or he could even own a company or two for those."

She then let out a small sigh.

"Man, I thought I beat him for sure. I mean, come on. I was first and he was always second. Instead of trying to fuck me over he could've used those brains and efforts to beat me in tests."

She chuckled a little bit. It's not that she was entirely calmed down enough for a joke; it was her way of coping with her situation now.

"But then again, I'm more than halfway done with 3rd year. I just gotta finish that entrance exam and I'm done. Thank god because high school sucks."

Tezuka was then done applying ointment and began wrapping the cuts with a fresh set of bandages. Silence prevailed again. Miho just stared at Tezuka's gentle hands do their work.

"Perseverance, secret of all triumphs… right?" Miho then paused for a while. Tezuka was done wrapping the bandages, and he began cleaning up. Then with a tear-filled voice, she spoke. "What did I do so wrong?" Teardrops rolled down one by one.

"You didn't do anything wrong." Tezuka said, finally looking up at her. "Miho, what they did was inhuman. It was just cruel. If there's anyone wrong, it's them." He then wiped off the tears away from her cheeks with his thumb. Miho finally started sobbing, sorrow, betrayal, and pain rushing over her entire body. Tezuka's heart throbbed in pain as well, seeing Miho in such state. All he could do was embracing her but it wasn't enough to rewind everything that happened for the last too many years.

They remained in that position for a while and Miho continued to sob. Before they realized the sun had set and the room had gone dark and quiet except for Miho's sobbing. After a bit, Miho fell asleep like that in Tezuka's arms. He sighed in relief; at least she won't be in much pain in her sleep. All that crying should've tired her out enough to put her to sleep. He carried her up from the chair and to her room. He felt rude, entering her room without her consent, but all he had in mind was to get Miho comfortable. He flicked the desk lamp that lit the dark room just enough for him to sense the contours of the things in her room. Her bed was small, the very minimum. He lifted the sheets, laid her down, and put the blanket back on her, tucking her in. He pulled the chair from her desk and sat down next to her bed. He noticed how frail and thin her wrists have gotten compared to when he first met her. He could never forget the smile and giggles she made as she talked about her favorite books while wrapping them with her delicate fingers. He took her hand and locked his fingers with hers; he then brought his lips onto the back of her hand.

* * *

NOW KISS.

Jk. Sorry for making Atobe such an ass.


	10. Intermission

The Tyrant's Pride

Chapter 10: Intermission

The law of nature, the law of the jungle: strong feed on the weak. It not only pertains to primitive and animalistic ecosystem, but to our organized, much advanced human society—just in a refined form. The proletariats and bourgeoisie. White collar and blue collar. Politicians and civilians. Wealthy and poor. The society is bound to split into two factions of "either or" no matter what, and there will never be a perfect balance where both parties are satisfied.

I understand. I understand that. He's the strong, I'm the weak. No matter how much I excel in school, I can never mend the gap between me and him.

However, what I don't understand is, why are there still individuals who must see to the ugly, primal ends? Why must anyone tear down another individual down? Perhaps it's an instinct, or perhaps it's a controlled action. However, as an affiliate of this society, these types of actions must carry logic far from primal instinct. It must focus on the orthopraxy, not orthodoxy.

So what is the logic behind _his_?

The worth of that bookstore, or even the land of my parents' graves, which is merely a couple square feet, would not do any benefit to a company that gargantuan. It wouldn't even be considered as a piece of gum. What is he even going to use it for? A bookstore, stuck away in the corner of a run-down building, and a couple square feet of land that probably can't even fit a closet, what could he possibly make out of those? He has his own niche, I have mine. Two are completely different, and would probably never collide against each other—except he purposefully and completely crushed my niche.

So did he do it to watch me suffer? Okay, that's a reason. But it's not quite logical or sound. What will my tormenting have any benefit to him? Ease at heart? Joy? Entertainment?

Miho's eyes slowly opened. She was faced with a dark, spotty, just the plain old ceiling she sees every single day. Even though she had curtains covering the windows, it was a bright, shiny day outside as if it were to mock her life and her hardships. She covered her eyes with her forearm and let out a long, silent sigh. Her head was burning. Her vision was blurring.

"_You didn't do anything wrong."_

She recalled Tezuka's voice in her mind, followed by a whole series of turbulent events that occurred that same day. She was afraid to step out into the world. She started re-living the atrocity and going down the path of miasma. She forcibly got herself out of bed, feeling thirstier than ever for draining all fluid through tears the day before. She headed to the kitchen area—and discovered a sticky-note stuck to the door on the fridge.

_Please eat something. _

_Also, don't forget that I'm always on your side. _

_I'll call again later in the day._

_-Kunimitsu_

When she opened the fridge, there were various food items—from a sandwich to lunchbox set, even containers of different kinds of soup. Tezuka had prepared everything so that she'd be able to at least pick out one thing that she would feel like eating.

Despite his gracious effort, Miho just blankly stared and the door slowly closed on its own. She just stood there, with nothing but the sound of her old fridge running filling the entire room. The dull, low sound of running electricity and fan slowly numbed Miho's senses. She seized to think.

Without knowing how long, she stood there, just like that. What knocked her out of it was the sound of the bell ringing. When she went to check, the mailman had already stuck the envelope between the cracks on her door. She took it out, and examined it. It was an official notice—from the landowner of her parents' graves, saying that the land had been bought and the ownership had been transferred under the company which Hana's family was in charge.

'_That's right… I can't do anything.' _She thought, dropping her hands. She just carelessly tossed the document into the trashcan.

When she checked the clock, it was pointing 7:30. She was already late for school by an hour, if she were to get ready and commute. When she checked her phone, she had received a text message from Tezuka, which had been received around half an hour ago.

_I hope you've slept well. Please text me back if you're awake._

She texted back.

_Good morning, Kunimitsu. I'm awake. I kind of overslept, but I'm going to head to school soon._

Shortly after, he replied.

_I see. I'll call you during lunch break. Make sure you eat some food before you leave. _

_Alright, thanks Kunimitsu. Talk to you later. _

She got ready to leave the house, most of her actions being an empty replay of an automated routine. She seized to think and her body simply carried out actions learned through prolonged repetition. She got on the bus, headed to school. By the time she had gotten inside the school, the first period had already ended. She checked in at the staff lounge to notify her tardiness, and the teachers who had known her came to worry.

"Well… you're okay to head class, but… Are you not feeling well, Haraue? You didn't have to force yourself to come. You're not looking too well."

"No, not at all. I'm fine." She said. "I just slept through my alarm."

After leaving a short reply, she headed out and went into her class. Thankfully Atobe wasn't there—or else she would've either had another mental breakdown that will cause who-knows-what, or just dash back out of class, sickened by the idea of staying in the same room with him.

Everyone in class thought it was weird how Haraue Miho, who never missed a day of school or came late to class, was absent for the entire period and came in late. Miho paid no mind and sat down on her desk and took out study materials, like the routine told her body to do so.

The teacher came in and started lecturing; for the first time ever, she could not concentrate in class. She was delved into all sorts of thinking, and all sorts of nothing.

"…Haraue? Haraue."

"Yes." She looked up abruptly as the teacher's calling of her name penetrated her ears.

"Care to give answer to question 1?"

"Right." She looked down and read through the book, only to not know what page she was on. "I'm sorry, what page are we at right now?"

Everyone was shocked that she not only didn't have an answer to a question, but also didn't even follow along the lecture.

"Page 89. Are you feeling okay? Do you need to visit the infirmary? You seem a little pale."

"No, sorry. I'm just a bit tired." She answered and turned to the page, while the teacher moved onto another student to answer his question. She looked down at the book, but she was still unable to focus on anything and instead continued her trail of thought.

The second period flew by; when Miho was coming back from bathroom, a figure loomed over her and blocked her way. With her head hanging down low, she only saw the person's chest, and tried to evade, but the figure followed her and continued to loom over. When she looked up, it was a boy in round glasses with blue hair—Atobe's friend, if she remembered correctly—always in the background, always observing.

She absolutely hated judging people based on who they're with or what rumors say, and she always let her and only her decide any opinions regarding anyone. It was the same with this guy. Atobe? A scumbag. But this guy? She's better than to call a stranger a scumbag even before mixing a few words with. Regardless, her willingness to treat everyone the same way was only when Miho was capable of maintaining her demeanor, when she wasn't physically or mentally tired.

She blankly stared at him, waiting for him to say something. He must've wanted to make a conversation, right?

"Um… how should I say this." He began, scratching his head and averting his eyes. "Is there anything I could do to help?"

She blinked. Judging by his topic of conversation, he wasn't exactly the "evil" nature. He's probably one of those kids who never wanted to meddle in others' affairs, thus always end up circumventing and staying that way. She stared at him blankly and he just stood there, a little fidgety.

"I know you're his friend." She finally said. "And it seems like you know what he did."

With her calm demeanor, he merely played around with his fingers a little, unable to find proper words to face her with.

"The last thing I want right now is being reminded of his existence. I don't have anything against you, but I have nothing to say to his friend either." She said and brushed past him. She told herself, she did a good job in controlling her anger and taking it out on a wrong person at the wrong time.

She sat through class until lunch, passing each hour by thinking, zoning out, doodling, and paying attention in class somewhat. When the lunch bell rang, she got up from her desk and walked out of class, heading out of the school building as usual. While everyone else rushed to the school dining hall to eat, she walked down the hall in the opposite direction, where the exit to the garden was.

Just as she walked down the doorsteps and stepped on the pavement, she ran into a pair of nice, expensive-looking shoes sticking out of well-trimmed trousers. Without even bothering to look up, she tried to circle around him only to be held back as the person got a hold of her wrist. She slowly made the effort to look behind; and there was none other than the source of her misery, the foundation of the problem, Atobe Keigo—standing there, avoiding his gaze but still clenching onto her wrist.

"What do you want." She said, too tired to burst out in anger or lash out her signature remarks. He just stood there, nibbling on his lips but not saying a word. She tried to yank her arm out, but he just tightened his grasp. "I'm tired. Just tell me what you want so I can go my ways and you can yours."

"…I've given back the property to your store manager." He finally said. "And your parents' graves back to you as well."

"And do you want me to thank you? Well then. Thanks."

"No, it's not like that, I…" He came around her and stood in front of her. He then realized that she looked pale, clearly indicating that she wasn't feeling well. She then wobbled and plopped forward helplessly and Atobe quickly got a hold of her.

"Oi, Haraue! Haraue!" He held her while calling out her name, trying to get a closer look at her face; on her pale, lifeless face there were beads of cold sweat, and when he put his hand on her forehead it felt like his palm was scalding. He quickly called 911 in fear looming over him. Had he done this? Was this his fault?

Soon after the ambulance rolled in and took less than a minute to carry Miho out of school.

"Are you the guardian?" One of the EMTs asked.

"Y-Yes." He blurted out.

"Do you mind going?"

"I-I'll go." He said and hopped into the car. The sound of the ambulance distantly died out, making its way out of the school.

* * *

Guys, just remember that nice guys never finish last, they always finish first.


End file.
